How fresh is my egg
Hardly any other food in the EU is subject to such strict marketing guidelines as the egg. Eggs may only be offered to the consumer within the 21 days after they first saw the light of day. The "best before" date for fresh hen eggs is exactly 28 days after laying.
It’s an egg’s life…
Freshly laid eggs do not have a typical taste. The familiar attractive flavor only develops in the first three days after laying.
- Day 1: laying date
- Day 3: last packing date
- Day 9: Up to day nine, eggs can be marketed with a sleeve marked "Extra" or "Extra Fresh".
- From day nine onwards, fresh eggs must be stored in a cool, dark and dry place.
- Cooling date: after day 18, eggs must be kept in a refrigerator.
- From day 22 onwards: three-week-old eggs must be used quickly. They are no longer allowed to be offered for sale to the consumer at this age.
- The "best before" date is passed on day 28.
» Tip: how to calculate the laying date:
find the ‘best before’ date on the carton. Subtract 28 days from this date and you will know when the hen laid the egg. «
How to recognize fresh eggs
If you should lose track of how long your eggs have already been in the fridge, these simple tests will tell you whether they are still fresh.
Shaking
If, on shaking the egg, you hear a sloshing sound this indicates that the air-cell is already quite big and the albumen watery. The yolk tumbles around in the egg if it is no longer quite fresh.
Breaking
Break the egg on to a plate. Fresh eggs are recognizable by their domed yolks, which are held together by a ring of albumen. If the yolk is flat and the albumen runny, the egg has been around for a while and needs to be thoroughly cooked.
Floating
Place the egg in a tall glass filled with water. Very fresh eggs sit on the bottom. Eggs aged about seven days start to stand up, with the rounded end upwards. If your egg floats to the surface it is at least 21 days old. Its air-cell is already big enough to make the egg buoyant.
Light test
Hold the egg in question in front of a strong light. Fresh, raw eggs are translucent. However you turn the egg, the yolk stays in the middle. In older examples, the yolk starts to travel.
Do brown eggs taste better
Do brown hens lay brown eggs
Completely wrong! The color of the feathers has no connection with the color of the eggs. The color of the eggshell is purely genetically determined.
Do brown eggs taste better
This is another fallacy. The taste of an egg depends on the diet and the health of the hen that laid it. Under the same conditions there is no difference in the nutritional value and taste of brown or white eggs. Test them yourself: get someone to soft-boil a brown egg and a white one, and serve them to you without their shells. Can you taste any difference
What are salmonella
Salmonella are bacteria that can trigger severe gastrointestinal diseases. The quantity of bacteria ingested determines whether the salmonella will make you ill.
Do eggs always contain salmonella
Fortunately, salmonella are very seldom found in eggs. If the hen carries and excretes salmonella the germs may be transferred to the egg via dirt on the shell. Even then, the egg itself will contain only very few bacteria. The fresher the egg, the less chance any salmonella that may be present have to proliferate. At temperatures lower than six degrees centigrade, the bacteria hardly multiply at all, but at room temperature they breed rapidly. Once present, the unwanted guests survive refrigeration, or even freezing, unharmed. They are only destroyed at temperatures over seventy degrees centigrade.
How to protect yourself against salmonella
- Do not hoard eggs. Always buy fresh ones and use them soon afterwards.
- Store hen’s eggs in the fridge immediately after buying.
- Use only very fresh eggs in dishes that contain raw egg (e.g. tiramisu, zabaglione). Do not keep leftovers.
- Boil eggs by putting them directly into boiling water and simmering them for at least five minutes.
- Once past the "best before" date, ensure that eggs are cooked thoroughly before eating.
- Eggs with damaged shells should be cooked thoroughly and used immediately.
- Always keep salads and vegetables away from eggs in the refrigerator.
- Wash your hands regularly when handling food.
ALL ABOUT EGGS
What you always wanted to know about eggs…
What would life be like without eggs
Globally, around one thousand billion (1012) eggs are consumed every year. On average, every person on the planet consumes about 200 eggs a year. These little parcels contain a very special food. They not only supply a rich cocktail of nutrients - they also make cooking a kind of "jeu sans frontières": Germans love soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, Americans look forward to an egg "sunny side up", Spaniards adore filled tortillas, Italians wax enthusiastic about eggs "frittata" and the Japanese just love to dip raw meat into eggs fresh from the nest. Few foodstuffs are as versatile as fresh eggs. Whether in cakes, fine desserts, ice cream, gourmet sauces or egg noodles - everywhere eggs are recognizable by the yellow of their yolks.
Protein – a body’s building blocks
» Our bodies can make 94 grams of endogenous protein from 100 grams of egg protein. Just one egg provides around 16 per cent of the daily equirement of protein for an adult
Protein is the building block of life. Our bodies must constantly produce and renew cells: To this end they need protein as the central building material. No other foodstuff supplies protein of such high quality as hen eggs do. This property is measured by the "biological value" of foods: the greater the amount of endogenous protein that can be produced from a foodstuff, the greater its nutritional value is. Our bodies can make 94 grams of endogenous protein from 100 grams of egg protein. Just one egg provides around 16 per cent of the daily requirement of protein for an adult.
Biological values of foods in relation to egg protein
| Hen´s egg | 100 |
| Cow´s milk | 86 |
| Redfish | 80 |
| Beef | 76 |
| Soy beans | 72 |
| Potatoes | 67 |
| Wheat | 65 |
| Beans | 58 |
(Source AID, Eier 1069/2003)
Get fit - with egg
Top quality protein and a mixture of many vital substances mean that eggs are extremely nutritious. One large egg contains about nine grams of protein, eight grams of fat, valuable lecithin and all minerals and vitamins with the exception of vitamin C. Most of the vitamins are to be found in the yolk. The most important vitamin in hen’s eggs is vitamin A, together with its preliminary forms, the carotenoids. » One egg provides 26 per cent of our daily requirement of folic acid. This especially fragile B vitamin forms new cells and activates growth. «
This vitamin enhances our ability to see. It is needed in the retina for light/dark perception and also for distinguishing colors. Vitamin A also plays an important part in the immune system during growth and stabilizes hair, skin and teeth. In addition, a hen’s egg supplies all the vitamins of the B complex, which are responsible for the proper functioning of the metabolism, cell respiration and the generation of red blood corpuscles.
Why eggs are so safe
» Every egg that comes onto the market in the EU now carries a stamp: now we can see at a glance how the hen was kept, what country the egg comes from and where the producer can be found. « Food safety “from the farm to the fork” – that is the aim of the new guidelines issued by the European Union. Since 1 January 2005, it has only been possible to sell food in the EU if its safety can be traced directly through the whole production chain. Every egg that comes onto the market in the EU now carries a stamp: now we can see at a glance how the hen was kept, what country the egg comes from and where the producer can be found. It is a complicated procedure, but a big step towards consumer protection.
Eggs are in a class of their own
In the EU, only top-quality eggs are marketed: eggs that fulfill the strict quality requirements of Class A. The shell and cuticle must be normal, undamaged and clean. The eggs must not be washed or otherwise cleaned. Yolk and albumen must be free of all foreign bodies of any kind. The albumen of a Class A egg must be of a gelatin-like consistency. Class B eggs are second-class eggs, destined only for industrial use.
What does my egg weigh
Within the EU, eggs are marketed in uniform weight grades. They are marked "very large", "large", "medium" and "small". Eighty to ninety per cent of all eggs are graded "large" or "medium".
Weight grades for class A eggs
| Symbol | Designation | Weight grade |
| XL | very large |
73g and above |
| L | large | 63g up to 73g |
| M | medium | 53g up to 63g |
| S | small | under 53g |
Lecithin: a very special substance
Egg yolks are full of lecithin, a biologically valuable substance that every cell of the body needs. The more important an organ is, the more lecithin it contains. Bone marrow, brain, liver and heart are particularly rich in lecithin. Although lecithin is a fat, it is not used as a source of energy, but is responsible for vital tasks in the cell membranes, especially in nervous tissue. » In cooking, lecithin is indispensable as a biological emulsifier. It binds with ingredients such as water and oil, which would otherwise not mix with each other... « Our bodies can produce the valuable substance themselves or obtain it from food. Lecithin doesn’t just aid memory and concentration; it also strengthens nerves, positively influences cholesterol levels and hinders the formation of gallstones.
In cooking, lecithin is indispensable as a biological emulsifier. It binds with ingredients such as water and oil, which would otherwise not mix with each other: stable mayonnaise, margarine, creamy eggnog, or fluffy sauces would be inconceivable without this little helper.
No need to fear cholesterol
Eggs have relatively high cholesterol content - but that is no reason to give up eating eggs. Eggs are better than their reputation. A healthy organism manages its own blood cholesterol levels: Hereditary factors, excess weight, stress and lack of exercise have a much greater influence on blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is an essential building block for endogenous hormones, vitamin D, cell walls and gallic acids. The body produces this valuable substance itself and it slows production if large amounts are ingested in the diet. Moreover, if the diet does contain too much cholesterol, less of the substance is absorbed into the blood from the intestines.
Enjoy eggs without concern
Eggs contain lecithin, a substance that binds cholesterol. This biological emulsifier binds the cholesterol so quickly that the body can only take it up to a limited extent. To date, numerous studies have failed to find a connection between cholesterol levels, egg consumption and the rate of heart attacks. Who would have thought it? The Japanese eat an egg almost every day and statistics show that they have one of the lowest incidences of cardiovascular disease.
For the sake of the hen
Carotenoids – nature’s colorants
In 1931, the chemist Heinrich Wackenroder was the first to discover a carbon compound in carrots, naming it "carotene". We now know of some 650 carotenoids, without which natural life would be impossible. These substances are responsible, for example, for the yellow to reddish-orange colors of fruit and vegetables, for the vibrant hues of flowers and for many a colorful coat in the animal kingdom. Plants, fungi and bacteria around the world produce some three tons of carotenoids every single second.
Essential pro-vitamins for humans and animals
In nature, carotenoids are much more than just colorants. They also perform vital protective and regulatory functions. Neither humans nor animals are capable of producing carotenoids themselves; we need to take them in with our food. Around fifty of these valuable colorants are important for humans as pro-vitamin A, meaning that they can be converted into vitamin A.
Carotenoids are good for us
Carotenoids
- protect the cells of the body from harmful environmental influences (e.g. "free radicals")
- improve the performance of the immune system
- support detoxifying functions
- are involved in the process by which we see
- protect the skin from damage by ultra-violet light
- increase the fertility of animals
Healthy chicks need carotenoids
Carotenoids don’t just put color into egg yolks; they also perform vital functions. In the egg, they protect sensitive substances such as vitamins from becoming "rancid", and protect every single cell from harmful influences. Hens, too, profit from carotenoids in their feed: their immune systems are strengthened, protecting their cells from harmful environmental influences and providing the basis for vital vitamin A. When it comes to mother hen’s chicks, healthy birds only hatch if the yolks are provided with sufficient carotenoids. So yellow yolks are always a sign of happy hens.
The construction of an egg
A peep beneath the surface
The egg is one of Nature’s wonders. It really merits a peep beneath the hard surface that protects the precious energy cocktail within. The shell, which is strong because it is mostly made of calcium, is lined by two fine membranes. At the rounded end of the egg, the two membranes separate to form an air ‘cell’. The yolk resides in the center of the egg, surrounded by the egg white, or albumen. It is held in place by two little cords known as chalazas. These cords gradually become more elastic as the egg ages, and the yolk begins to move around. The egg white provides a protective envelope for the yolk and also has antibacterial properties.
» By the way: the calcium layer has around 10,000 pores, which allow the passage of air. Thus there is a constant exchange of air between the egg and its environment. Unpleasant smells can penetrate its sensitive interior, as well as putrefactive bacteria, mould spores, or salmonella. «
The egg yolk
Why are egg yolks yellow
This is one puzzle that is easily solved: the color of the yolk reveals what the hen has been eating. The carotenoids in the hen’s feed make the yolks yellow. They are found throughout the natural world, in fruit and vegetables for example, and are easily recognized by their yellow to orange-red color. The greater the quantity of these colorful substances in the hen’s diet, the stronger the shade of the yolk is. The hen ingests yellow pigments in corn or grass, for instance. A golden yolk is produced by red carotenoids from red peppers or by canthaxanthin, a substance found widely in nature.
The hen - a truly high-performance production unit
In the ovaries of one hen, several thousand egg cells wait to start out on the path to a finished egg. The yolk matures within seven to eleven days. After ovulation the yolk enters the oviduct, where it is enveloped in several layers of egg white. A thin shell membrane forms in the part of the oviduct known as the isthmus. Finally, the egg enters the shell gland, where the shell itself develops. Just before the egg leaves the hen’s body it is covered with a thin protective coating called "bloom". Thus hygienically packaged, the little voyager sees the light of day. A hen egg takes about 24 hours to pass from a yolk to a finished egg. A hen lays about 280 to 300 eggs a year - a truly magnificent achievement. » By the way: brown eggs take on their hue only in the final 5 hours of shell formation. «
Why we love yellow egg yolks
Our preference for golden yellow egg yolks is rooted in history. Pale yolks were always a sign of sick hens, worm infestation, or poor feed. Only healthy, well-nourished hens store carotenoids (preliminary forms of vitamin A) in their yolks. Bright golden-yellow yolks show that the hens are well supplied with essential carotenoids such as lutein or canthaxanthin. These protective substances are widely found in nature; they not only give the yolk its yellow color, but also prevent the oxidation and destruction of fragile, vital substances such as vitamins in the egg.
Europe is not unanimous
Where the color of egg yolks is concerned, Europeans are not unanimous. A real North-South divide can be observed. While the northerners prefer pale yellow yolks, the preference of consumers for golden-yellow yolks grows as we go further south. On the shores of the Mediterranean, only bright, orange-red yolks stand a chance of reaching the plate.
From chicken feed to yolk pigment
Not all carotenoids find their way into the yolk. The well-known beta-carotene, for example, is completely converted to vitamin A and metabolized by the hen. Beta-carotene has no effect on yolk color. Canthaxanthin, another carotenoid, is different: Birds only convert about 30 per cent of it into vitamin A. The rest is stored in the egg yolk as a protective substance, causing the yolk to take on a golden-yellow hue.
Reliability through sustainability
Reliability is top priority
For years now, consumers have been setting a trend towards increasingly healthy, tasty food produced in harmony with the environment. The concept of quality covers requirements such as food safety, good taste, and high nutritional value, but it also brings with it high expectations concerning environmental and animal conservation. The pressure from consumers for safer food is accompanied, however, by ever-greater expectations of value for money.
“Sustainability” – a new way forward
Environmental aspects are increasingly being focused upon in food production. “Sustainable agriculture” aims to meet consumer demands to a large degree. The challenge of our times is to produce food with a high level of safety and quality in an environmentally friendly way. Sustainable agriculture is a modern step towards the future, to maintain our natural resources and environmental heritage for generations to come.
Quality through traceability
Quality – important from the very beginning
Globally, around one thousand billion (1012) eggs are consumed every year. Numerous consumer surveys show that that the color of the yolk is a distinct sign of quality. Consumers want eggs with consistently colored egg yolks. We first notice yolk quality at the breakfast table, but it is around long before that.
Through hen feed enriched with carotenoids such as Canthaxanthin, the farmer is able to influence the sensitive yolk color back at the barnyard. Chicken feed is manufactured according to the highest possible standards and is subject to strict monitoring of production. Of course, this applies to Canthaxanthin, the best-researched carotenoid, as well. It sees to the hen's health and gives the egg its “heart of gold” – a golden yellow yolk.
Traceability – from the egg to the farmyard
Egg quality is stringently monitored. Every egg is individually stamped. The codes are standardized throughout the EU and allow the egg to be traced through an unbroken chain back to the farm where it was laid. This protects consumers and egg farmers in equal measure. Transparency in the entire food chain guarantees optimum safety for egg consumers.
ساحة النقاش