I noticed weird things in eggs here in Ireland.

Om Jana

Hello everyone,

I've noticed something wrong with eggs here in Ireland these days. I've been here for 2 years and we buy eggs every week like all families. But about 6 weeks ago, when I bought a pack of 12 eggs from a famous supermarket which we have been buying from for a long time, I noticed a weird thing in the egg white, of reddish brown in color. i don't know whether this is some sort of microbes or what I can't tell. And that was in more than 4 eggs in the same pack.

Anyways, I returned it to the supermarket with a refund. When I asked if someone else complained about it, they said no, no one. i thought it is just a fault in one pack. But, I tried another one from the same supermarket with the same problem, but not all the eggs. I tried another supermarket, with the same problem in some eggs and one of them had lots of those microbes not just one or 2 like before.

So, my questions are: Has anyone else noticed this thing? and is it normal? can we eat them or the eggs are infected with something? For some time i thought it's just happening to me but, I store the eggs in the fridge as usual, and we get only very fresh eggs every week, so its not the expiry date. also, i see those things both in boiled eggs and raw eggs.

RGDATA!

sounds like a blood spot, something you see occasionally but which is natural.
you can eat the egg, you won't even notice the speck when it's cooked. or you can remove it before cooking.
i think some producers have scanners to weed out eggs with spots in them, but they're harmless and edible, have never done me any harm anyway.

Cardinal Richelieu

RGDATA! wrote: »

sounds like a blood spot, something you see occasionally but which is natural.
you can eat the egg, you won't even notice the speck when it's cooked. or you can remove it before cooking.
i think some producers have scanners to weed out eggs with spots in them, but they're harmless and edible, have never done me any harm anyway.

Yes blood spot, surprised the OP found it in a supermarket brand, more commonly found in small local producers of conventional and organic eggs were they don't have a hi-tec grader to weed out the blood spot eggs due to cost.

Om Jana

RGDATA! wrote: »

sounds like a blood spot, something you see occasionally but which is natural.
you can eat the egg, you won't even notice the speck when it's cooked. or you can remove it before cooking.
i think some producers have scanners to weed out eggs with spots in them, but they're harmless and edible, have never done me any harm anyway.

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Yes blood spot, surprised the OP found it in a supermarket brand, more commonly found in small local producers of conventional and organic eggs were they don't have a hi-tec grader to weed out the blood spot eggs due to cost.

Thanks for your reply, but isn't blood supposed to be in the egg yolk not egg white? and i think blood would disappear if the eggs are thoroughly cooked.

Rasmus

Are you talking about the little 'dot' which is blackish red, but seen in every egg when you crack it? If so, I think it is what the others are talking about. I've never even thought about it since after all, it is an uncooked, unfertilized embryo or whatever and assumed these things happen. I always separate it out..

Darkginger

Perfectly normal, as others have said, in un-graded eggs. Don't worry about it, just remove it if it bothers you. I've seen them in the whites and in the yolks - usually very small, but sometimes a little larger. There are often 'anomalies' in eggs - young hens will sometimes lay tiny eggs, sometimes huge double-yolkers, sometimes soft-shelled eggs - it takes time for them to settle into laying. Old hens sometimes lay weird eggs too, but in the commercial egg producing industry, it's unlikely that a hen would get old enough for this to happen (likely to be culled when their production rate drops off).

It's possible that the producers who supply the shop you're buying your eggs from have a new batch of hens in, which would account for there being more oddities than usual -can't think of another reason why you should suddenly be finding more of these. Rest assured, they're harmless

Om Jana

Rasmus wrote: »

Are you talking about the little 'dot' which is blackish red, but seen in every egg when you crack it? If so, I think it is what the others are talking about. I've never even thought about it since after all, it is an uncooked, unfertilized embryo or whatever and assumed these things happen. I always separate it out..

Darkginger wrote: »

Perfectly normal, as others have said, in un-graded eggs. Don't worry about it, just remove it if it bothers you. I've seen them in the whites and in the yolks - usually very small, but sometimes a little larger. There are often 'anomalies' in eggs - young hens will sometimes lay tiny eggs, sometimes huge double-yolkers, sometimes soft-shelled eggs - it takes time for them to settle into laying. Old hens sometimes lay weird eggs too, but in the commercial egg producing industry, it's unlikely that a hen would get old enough for this to happen (likely to be culled when their production rate drops off).

It's possible that the producers who supply the shop you're buying your eggs from have a new batch of hens in, which would account for there being more oddities than usual -can't think of another reason why you should suddenly be finding more of these. Rest assured, they're harmless

That's great. Thank you so much

Jellybaby1

Yep, I've had that before, assumed it was part of something that had once been alive and was natural. Hasn't killed me yet. However, I have had a pack of eggs with all the yolks almost white. Anyone know what that might be? I threw them all out as they scared me. Would it mean an anaemic hen?

Mellor

Darkginger wrote: »

young hens will sometimes lay tiny eggs, sometimes huge double-yolkers, sometimes

I once had a dozen where 8 were double yoked.

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

However, I have had a pack of eggs with all the yolks almost white. Anyone know what that might be? I threw them all out as they scared me. Would it mean an anaemic hen?

The yoke colour comes from the diet. Ranging from yellow, to gold to orange.
A very pale yoke either means a sick hen, or poor quality feed. I'd bin them too.

n0irin

I noticed that this morning when I was cooking eggs actually, and was a bit puzzled but figured it was probably just normal so I ate them anyway and they tasted fine - I'm glad that it's a kinda common thing though

Nothingbetter2d

chicken period mmmm

The Hill Billy

@Nothingbetter2d: If you have nothing of value to add to the thread - don't bother posting.

tHB

Cardinal Richelieu

Mellor wrote: »

I once had a dozen where 8 were double yoked.


The yoke colour comes from the diet. Ranging from yellow, to gold to orange.
A very pale yoke either means a sick hen, or poor quality feed. I'd bin them too.

Perdue Farms in the USA came up with the bright idea of mixing marigold petals in their chicken feed to impart a golden colour to the chicken skin and a more yellow yoke. Salmon farms use the same technique by applying colouring to the fish feed.

Mellor

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Perdue Farms in the USA came up with the bright idea of mixing marigold petals in their chicken feed to impart a golden colour to the chicken skin and a more yellow yoke. Salmon farms use the same technique by applying colouring to the fish feed.

That's been happening for years. Completely natural. Red peppers contain a pigment that makes yokes a orange-gold colour. Comon aroundm the mediterranean apparently

Jellybaby1

Another query on eggs - will we ever see white eggs again in the shops? In my childhood they were all white, but the odd brown one would appear in a pack and we'd think our selves lucky to have such a 'rich' egg. But they must be feeding something to the birds to make all the eggs brown. Now I'd count myself lucky to find a white one!

emeraldstar

^ It's nothing to do with feed, but breed. Different breeds of hens lay eggs with different coloured shells. The hens used mostly in the UK & Ireland are those that lay brown-shelled eggs.

Jellybaby1

What has happened to the white-egg laying breeds then? Have they died out?

The Hill Billy

There are plenty of them in Switzerland. Not a brown egg to be seen over here. It probably depends on what breeds suit the local farming methods.

emeraldstar

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

What has happened to the white-egg laying breeds then? Have they died out?

Lol no, they exist alright but brown eggs just became the preference in this part of the world so the breeds that lay them are what the farmers etc tend to go for. In the US, hens laying white-shelled eggs seem to be preferred.

Guill

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

What has happened to the white-egg laying breeds then? Have they died out?

I had a couple of Leghorns that laid the White shelled egg, Marrans that lay a mahogany eggs and and cross that laid a green shelled egg, although you can get pure breeds that lay the green. It made for an interesting looking egg box!

Jezek

Found a spot just like that in the duck egg I was having the other day ( soft boiled with soldiers, if you must know). If you read up on how eggs are formed it will make sense, but the short of it is that it is completely natural and harmless. Remove if it offends you, or feel free to just cook the eggs.

Mmm I have an egg-craving now.