I’ve been curious after seeing non-refrigerated eggs in Japan
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The risk with eggs comes from salmonella, a parasite which can infect multiple different animals including chicken and humans. The outermost layer of an egg is a thin layer which protect the egg from parasites like salmonella. But this thin layer gets removed if you wash the egg. This allows salmonella to pass through the shell of the egg and infect the egg. If the egg is refrigerated then the salmonella will hibernate and the egg is still safe to eat. But if the egg is kept at room temperatures then the salmonella will multiply making the egg unsafe.
There is therefore two different ways of distributing eggs. You can either wash the eggs so they look pretty but then you have to keep them refrigerated all the way to the consumer. Or you can vaccinate the chicken against salmonella, frequently inspect the chicken and eggs for salmonella contamination, and keep the eggs unwashed. This means you do not need refrigeration making the transport and storage of eggs much cheaper. Of course refrigeration is still recommended but it is not required.
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