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(paula) wrote in message . com>...
> (N. Thornton) wrote in message . com>...

> > How long is it safe to store eggs before baking? The eggs are stored
> > refrigerated, and seem to be fine after several months, but are they?

> i think not. eggs we buy( U.K.) have a sell by date on them and also a
> use by date.the ones i bought last night have a display until the 8th.
> and use by the 15th. dates on them and they are fresh free range
> eggs.April that is ,so you can say a couple of weeks. i have only used
> eggs about 2 to 3 days over the use by date in an emergency as i would
> hate to tempt fate and end up with salmonella.
> quite often i throw 3 or 4 eggs out if the date has been passed, they
> are not expensive so better to be safe than sorry.

Hi Paula. I'm in the UK too. The sell by and use by dates do not
equate to what is safe here, by any means. Although the system was
reasonably good in principle, in practice it
- takes no account of widely variable storage conditions
- takes no account of end use, eg raw eggs vs baked eggs, which are
very diffrent safety wise
- is widely used to encourage throw and buy again
- is widely used to offload legal liability (especially with tinned
food)

Thus sell by and use by dates are of debateable use for some types of
goods. Many a time I have seen fresh prepared foods still in date but
quite unfit to eat, and dried and tinned foods far out of date yet
perfectly healthy.

I was looking for solid information on safety. I have old cookbooks
that recommend almost unlimited storage of eggs followed by testing
before use. I have seen 9 month old eggs pass these tests with ease,
and am not aware of any great incidence of egg related food poisoning
from those times. I end up with eggs months past use by dates at
times, hence my interest as to what I should do with them.

I feel I am still in the dark on this.

Regards, NT