Eli5 What is the protective coating on fresh chicken eggs that allow them to go unrefrigerated but as soon as you wash them you have to refrigerate them (basically Europe vs US way of selling /storing eggs)

Question

Eli5 What is the protective coating on fresh chicken eggs that allow them to go unrefrigerated but as soon as you wash them you have to refrigerate them (basically Europe vs US way of selling /storing eggs)

In: 12

Answer 1

Fresh eggs have a thing called bloom. It’s basically a protective coating that seals the eggs and stops bacteria getting in.

Once you wash the eggs, the bloom is gone and therefore bacteria can get into the eggs hence why you keep them refrigerated.

Curious about how differently Europeans and Americans store eggs though… Is it different?

Edit: I googled it – https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt