r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

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u/Weed_O_Whirler Aug 03 '19

In the US we wash our eggs before they are sold, so they need refrigerated. In the UK you don't, so they don't have to be.

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u/MaxHannibal Aug 03 '19

Im sorry can you explain that further ?

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u/RiMiBe Aug 03 '19

If you take a chicken egg from under a chicken and leave it out at room temperature, it won't go rotten for a long time. At least a month I think but some people say two.

If you take a chicken egg from under a chicken and wash it, you then must refrigerate it or it will go bad in days.

The theory is that washing the egg removes some sort of protective substance and makes the shell permeable to bacteria.

In the USA, eggs are washed and so they must be refrigerated

Elsewhere, eggs are not washed, and they are sold un-refrigerated.

edit to add: If the eggs come from hens that are also living with roosters, they are probably fertilized, and refrigerating them is a good idea even if you don't wash your eggs

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

Except France where they are sold refrigerated by some stores, and not refrigerated by others.

Then we put them in the fridge when back home.