Floating eggs re-sold as fresh

[snopes]

Comment: I would like you to either comfirm/refute/correct the following:

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The mass egg production industry takes eggs not purchased by store
customers by the "sell by" date from the store shelves, & takes them to a
processing center to be floated. Those eggs that do not float are then
re-packaged, given a new "sell by" date, & are then put back on store
shelves to be sold as "farm fresh".

Furthermore, the water in which these eggs are floated is rarely, if ever,
changed or sanitized & eggs can go through this process more than once
.

[Eddylizard]

The sell by date on eggs here is printed on the eggshell (the so called "Lion Mark"). I'd have to test it to be sure but I think it would be difficult to remove.

[Floater]

"sell by date" does not mean that foodstuff immediately turns toxic once that date has been reached.

[GenYus234]

Are you past your sell-by date?

[jw]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

The sell by date on eggs here is printed on the eggshell (the so called "Lion Mark"). I'd have to test it to be sure but I think it would be difficult to remove.

In the interests of research I carried out the following experiments on removing the print from some eggs I had stored in my fridge, which had the date and some other numbers printed in red ink.

Soap & water - hardly any ink removed. It only went a slightly lighter shade.
White Spirit - the same.
Cellouse thinners - This stuff would normally remove any inks or paints but I was afraid to rub too hard. It did take away some of the print.
Malt vinegar - completely removed it easily.

I've often used eggs maybe a week or so past the sell by date - my mother swears that refrigerating eggs gives them a longer life - I've never tried keeping eggs outside of the fridge, but that's mainly because there's a convenient shelf in the fridge to place 'em.

[Chloe]

I pretty much ignore sell-by dates on eggs. If they're off, you'll know.

[Mad Jay]

The USDA reccomends that eggs should be consumed 3 to 5 weeks after the "pack date", which is the date the hen laid the eggs, because properly washed and packaged eggs didn't show contamination until the 5th week

However, taste tests showed that uncontaminated eggs were fine upto 10th week of pack date



http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/jun04/egg0604.htm

[FullMetal]

with regards to the second claim in this post, I highly doubt any food handling organization would be allowed to have a pool of water that remains unsanitized for any length of time, especially if they put eggs in there to see if they float, I've seen many cracked eggs in the store, if just one got into the water it would make the water get pretty stinky after a while. so much that even chicken farmers would find the smell appalling.

Now I can see some sketchy stores trying this, (for the reasons mentioned about the sell-by date not meaning that the egg goes bad immediately after that date.) but not the egg industry as a whole. Anecdote time, there was still a box of cake mix which was over 20 years past it's sell-by date at a convenience store near me a few years ago, (1984 was the best before date). Haven't been back there recently to see if it's sold yet, I doubt it, but they may have pulled it from the shelf as it has new management, (although there has been many management changes there over the years)

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by jw

In the interests of research I carried out the following experiments on removing the print from some eggs I had stored in my fridge

In the interests of your personal welfare I am requesting you don't eat that particular egg following its various chemical baths. However thanks for saving me the effort.

Originally Posted by FullMetal

with regards to the second claim in this post, I highly doubt any food handling organization would be allowed to have a pool of water that remains unsanitized for any length of time...

You've pretty much describied an apple grading machine - a 400 meter long trough of water that doesn't get changed very often, if at all. Eggs aren't apples of course,

[Floater]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

Are you past your sell-by date?

Nah, I can be a grumpy young man regardless of date.