Things start to change when the food stored in your refrigerator or pantry are close to their expiry date. Surprisingly, more than 50% of people are clueless about what to do with expired food and many of them fail to understand what makes them ‘expired’. Typically there are two responses after knowing any food ingredient has expired; to throw it right away or trying to see what happens when you use the expired food. In the case of eggs, expiry is a big concern as expired eggs can possess serious health damages that are totally avoidable in the first place.
It is hard to identify expired eggs without checking the date first. But many times, even after checking the date, you end up buying eggs that are almost rotten or many of them turn out bad. On every package, you will find a three-digit code showing when were these eggs packaged. Many times this date stamp is confusing as it doesn’t tell you a clear expiry date.
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According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the eggs cant be in the grocery stores for more than 30 days, starting from the date when they were packed. So checking the date is typically the best idea to know how much time do you have to consume these eggs.
If you are close to these five weeks or 30 days mark and not sure if the eggs are safe to eat or not, there is a simple trick to check it. Place your eggs into a bowl of cold water and see how many of them sink and how many float. This simple float test will indicate expired eggs, that are floating while safe and fresh eggs go down and rest at the bottom.
Many people believe that eating food items close to their expiry or after crossing their expiry date is still fit for eating. But it may not be necessarily true every time. In the case of expired eggs, there are high chances to experience salmonella poisoning which is a chronic condition. The chances of this poisoning are highest if the egg whites or the egg yolk is contaminated by any means. If you are using raw eggs in any recipe, it will further increase the chances of being infected. The more time these eggs rest in your refrigerator or pantry, the more bacteria they will be carrying.
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The common symptoms of salmonella poisoning include abdominal distress, pain, chills, and fever. Those who have a healthy immune system might be able to clear the bacteria from the body within a few hours or days. While others with low immunity may take weeks to recover. This poisoning can initiate by consuming the expired eggs once, no matter how much quantity you have consumed. But if you have consumed a larger quantity, or the eggs were very old kept, the chances of a severe infection increase.
Most people excrete these bacteria on their own while in extreme cases antibiotics are recommended.
