What happens if eggs are left out

But how long do eggs last outside of the fridge if they've been previously refrigerated? The rule of thumb? You can leave eggs on the counter about two hours at room temperature or one hour if the temperature is 90 degrees or hotter before you start to worry, per the Egg Safety Center. After two hours, you'd be safer to throw those eggs out and get a fresh dozen rather than chance it.

Because the temperature change can facilitate bacteria growth, and eggs are particularly susceptible to one particularly nasty bacteria that you've surely heard of before: Salmonella. Symptoms of Salmonella are not at all pleasant—they develop anywhere from 12 hours to 72 hours after infection and may include diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and vomiting. In some people the diarrhea may be severe enough to require hospitalization.

The FDA estimates that there are about 79, cases of illness and 30 deaths per year caused by eggs contaminated with Salmonella. Eggs that are marked as having been laid by chickens with the salmonella vaccine should not be refrigerated, as this can actually make them more susceptible to bacterial growth. If you live in North America, Japan, Australia, Sweden, or the Netherlands, commercially produced eggs will need to be refrigerated. Look into the eggs you are purchasing to see whether they are from vaccinated hens to decide how best to store your eggs.

What about freshly laid eggs from your own chickens? This is a more difficult question to answer. Unless your chickens have been vaccinated, they and their eggs are still susceptible to Salmonella. As soon as they are washed, however, they should be refrigerated.

You can actually freeze shelled eggs to extend their shelf life for up to a year. You can keep your eggs in their container for safety, and store them in your fridge, toward the back. Your eggs will stay fresh much longer if you use a container like this one from Amazon.

The fridge door will experience the greatest degree of temperature fluctuation, which puts your eggs at greater risk of being contaminated by bacteria. Most containers will come with a best-by date stamped on the package, but you can usually rely on eggs to stay fresh for 4—5 weeks if kept constantly cold.

If you live in a country that does not wash eggs or if you collect eggs from your own vaccinated backyard chickens, you may choose not to refrigerate your eggs. The most important thing to remember is to always wash your eggs right before you use them. Never wash them and then let them sit on your counter.

Also, always wash your hands after handling unwashed eggs. Not only will this protect them from being accidentally crushed, but it will also protect your counter and the rest of your kitchen from contamination. Unrefrigerated eggs will not last as long as those in the fridge and they should be eaten within 3 weeks. Once eggs have been cooked, they should always be either eaten or refrigerated as quickly as possible. The quality of your cooked eggs will vary, depending on how they were cooked.

Hard-boiled eggs are often eaten cold and considered delicious. A fried egg, on the other hand, will be rubbery and tough, even if it is safe to eat. Scrambled eggs, quiche, and egg casseroles will be somewhere in the middle. Yes, eggs can go bad in a variety of ways.

The difference is linked to the way that eggs are farmed and processed in the US compared with in the UK and other European nations.

In the US, the Department of Agriculture USDA requires that eggs destined for supermarket shelves — called graded eggs — are washed and sprayed with a chemical sanitiser before they are sold to the public to reduce the risk of salmonella infection. In the UK, Grade A hen eggs may not be washed because the process is thought to "aid the transfer of harmful bacteria like salmonella from the outside to the inside of the egg," according to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Forbes contributor Nadia Arumugam has previously noted that USDA graded eggs could not be legally sold in the UK and the other way around because of these different preparation methods. Salmonella can infect eggs in one of two ways. The bacteria can be passed on from an infected hen to the inside of the egg as it's developing, or it can get onto the outside of the shell after the egg is laid by coming into contact with the hen's feces.

In the US, large-scale laying houses are preferred over the free-range systems commonly used in the UK. The factory farm environment means more eggs can be produced on a smaller amount of land, but it also makes eggs more susceptible to contamination, even with good sanitary practises. As a result, eggs are moved directly from the hen house to a conveyor belt that takes them through a washer. The eggs are then sprayed. It's critical that the eggs are washed properly — otherwise the washing can actually the increase the chances of bacteria seeping into the shell from feces on the outside of it.

To get around the chance of that happening, the washing solution has to be hot enough — a minimum of Europe takes a different approach to prevent salmonella contamination. Additionally, scientists have found that the washing process may damage an outside layer of the egg shell known as the cuticle.

Without that chemical barrier, it becomes easier for bacteria to penetrate the inside of a clean egg.