Eggs Washed In Bleach?

[katlupe]

This is a email I received from my NONAISinNY group. Thought you all would find it interesting.


"Just got this tidbit from a friend who raised eggs and wanted to sell them at the stores. She went to the USDA website to get the requirements of this business.
She said it is a requirement to soak the egg in a bath in 1 part bleach, 2 parts water, and one part soap. This for a required amount of time to clean off the shell and the bleach is what turns the yolk yellow. Anyone hear of this before.
If that is true it is like getting a helping of bleach in your egg. I bet that is what changes the flavor too. But after all bleach is not dangerous in small amounts. Just don't go swimming and swallow tons of pool water too. Lol.
Dosent that make you want to have eggs for breakfast.
Thought it might help those who have people tell you they don't like the taste of farm raised eggs."

Is this what everyone does here who sells eggs? I didn't realize that they were washed in bleach.

katlupe

[RockyRooster]

Well, I dont sell mine to stores. But what the heck? Nature provides a cover on egg shells to keep bacteria out of the egg. The only time I wash my eggs is when they need it. But the nests are kept so clean that I rarely have to do that. The bleach makes the yolk yellow?? LOL. When I crack one of my farm fresh eggs, the yolk is so yellow it is almost orange. WITHOUT bleach. I have never, ever heard of this.

[copperkid3]

Not wishing to downplay your friends' committment to fighting NAIS, but she should at least use some "facts" instead of wild speculation......at least give us the URL for the USDA website where she "claims" to have received this information.
Afterall, the following is just too much....."This for a required amount of time to clean off the shell and the bleach is what turns the yolk yellow."

Since WHEN does bleach turn a yolk yellow???!!! If that were true, then how does "your friend" explain how my eggs (and anyone else's) are ALREADY yellow and the hens have been NO WHERE near a bleach bottle! (Okay, we're still wondering if those buff orphington hens are REAL BLONDES.....)

[katlupe]

Well that's good to know! I never heard it either. I had a pet Rhode Island Red hen that laid orange yolks too. I never washed her shells as they were never dirty. I like to buy eggs now from local farmers/homesteaders until I get my coop built for my own flock.

katlupe

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by katlupe

Well that's good to know! I never heard it either. I had a pet Rhode Island Red hen that laid orange yolks too. I never washed her shells as they were never dirty. I like to buy eggs now from local farmers/homesteaders until I get my coop built for my own flock.

katlupe

If you bleached something that was orange wouldn't it turn yellow? Maybe this is part of the reason store eggs have such a pale yellow color?

But I'd still like to see a link to the page myself.

[Shadow]

Years ago we had a grocery store, one day customers started bringing eggs back complaining they had bird shot in some of them. We broke some in a dish and sure enough some had little dark hard balls like about a number seven or eight bird shot from a shotgun shell. My father called our egg supplier and they said some employe had added bleach to the egg washer and this caused the shot like particals. He replaced all the eggs but lost a ton of money.

[Freeholder]

Store bought eggs are pale yellow because those hens never get outside where they can eat anything green. Our homegrown eggs are nearly orange, because our hens are running around outside, eating grass and weeds and bugs. It doesn't have anything to do with bleach. Now, they may bleach commercial eggs -- I don't know. I can't imagine that they come out of the cages as clean as they are when you buy a carton of them. But washing eggs makes them not keep as long as they would without washing (unless they were really dirty).

Kathleen

[Dink]

BlueJuniperFarm has it right Its what they eat that produces the color of the yolk store bought is light yellow homegrown is a orange.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by BlueJuniperFarm

But washing eggs makes them not keep as long as they would without washing (unless they were really dirty).

I don't know about the bleach, but they do have special solutions used commercially to wash and sterilize the eggs, and then they coat the eggs with a thin coat of mineral oil to make them keep longer.

Somewhat recently they also began pasteurizing eggs. I haven't bothered yet to look up the details of that, but I assume it's probably "cold pasteurization" AKA irradiation.

[palani]

Feeding corn turns yokes yellow.

Feeding oats make them pale yellow.

Grass raised yokes are dark yellow.

[Ravenlost]

I feed my chickens cracked corn, oats, grass, weeds, kitchen scraps, etc. etc. (they'll eat anything...my mom was surprised when I told her they love cheese). Their yolks are nice and orange. The eggs are sometimes a little dirty, but it would never occur to me to wash them in bleach. I don't wash the eggs until I'm ready to use them. Extremely dirty eggs are fed to the dogs.

Visitors don't find my eggs to appealing until they've eaten them. One taste and they gobble them up!

LOL...last time I visited my mom I was shocked at the glaring white eggs in her fridge...and they were so small! I asked my mom when she started buying small eggs and she told me those were large eggs. HUH...she should see my duck eggs!

[Hovey Hollow]

1 part bleach, 2 parts water, 1 part soap is a good recipe to kill YOU! Many soaps are not compatible with bleach and when mixed with bleach release a very toxic gas. There are some, ie clothes detergents that can be used with bleach, but many, many, many cannot. Besides, that's a very strong bleach solution. Most disinfecting solutions of bleach are 10 parts water to one part bleach.
I think these numbers are wonky and would also like to see the reference.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by copperkid

Not wishing to downplay your friends' committment to fighting NAIS, but she should at least use some "facts" instead of wild speculation......at least give us the URL for the USDA website where she "claims" to have received this information.

One problem I have with that is that the USDA doesn't make egg handling laws, the individual states do.

[katlupe]

Well, don't worry about "my friend" as it is someone I do not know. The NAIS NY groups sends me emails all day long. But I do not personally know them. I usually glance at them and delete. But this got my attention, as I do like to buy eggs (unfortunately at the store & small farms) and the thought of eating eggs doused in bleach made me go Yuck! I know bleach is safe and all that, but not in my eggs. I don't use it unless I really have to.

I did though try to wade my way through the USDA regulations for eggs sales and I took one look at that site and clicked my mouse.

I'll send a reply back and ask them for the link for HT.

katlupe

[grief]

Free-range eggs/eggs not from chickens kept in a VERY small cage have very yellow yolks. The yolks also have a much stronger taste.

My nieces - who have never eaten "real" eggs (!I mean free-range eggs/eggs not from chicks in VERY small cages!) don't like the "real" eggs that I was raised on and still hunt to buy!

Egg shells are porous but at the time they are laid/layed (which is it?) there
seems to be a protective shield of some kind on them. Once washed this protective shield is greatly diminished.

The above is from personal experience - not from a scientific site.

But I doubt VERY MUCH that dunking the eggs in a bleachy bath will make the yolks more yellow. Lighter, perhaps, but certainly not darker!
grief