Egg Cooking & Eating Rules You Should Know For Safety

Who doesn’t love cooking and eating eggs? From the simple boiled egg—which you can have with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, or fry, or make a batter-dipped pakoda or an egg curry with—to the sophisticated poached one, eggs are an integral part of our diets. Eggs taste great whether they’re fried, boiled, poached, steamed, scrambled or turned into a smooth, saucy Hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise. A great source of protein, and yes, vitamins and minerals too, eggs are cheap and easily available. For nations like ours, which are battling poverty and malnutrition even today, eggs are an extremely valuable resource. 

In India, poultry farming and egg consumption has been promoted since the 1980s through the National Egg Coordination Committee’s (NECC) popular ad and mantra: Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao anday (whether it’s Sunday or Monday, you must eat eggs every day). Millions of Indians have taken this to heart and continue to buy, cook and eat eggs every day. But here’s the flipside of egg consumption.

And this is the reason why, while we all love cooking and eating eggs, we must do so with utmost care. There are particular rules to store, cook and eat eggs which everyone must know. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have come up with the best guidelines for your safety, so here’s what you need to know.

Egg Buying Tips

1. Do not buy eggs sourced from areas which have avian influenza (bird flu) or Salmonella outbreaks.

2. If you’re buying eggs in a carton, open it and check for cracked shells.

3. Make sure the eggs are clean and don’t have any organic material which can contaminate it sticking to the surface.

4. If you’re buying eggs from a supermarket, make sure you get the ones which are properly refrigerated.

Egg Storing Tips

1. Store the eggs in a clean, dry area at a temperature of 40° F or less. For best results, store it in a clear refrigerator.

2. If you’re storing eggs in the refrigerator, do not place them in the door section. Eggs need stable temperature for storing, and doors go through temperature changes every time they are opened and closed.

3. You can store the eggs in their original carton for three weeks, as long as the carton is clean and dry.

4. If you want to store hard-boiled eggs (with or without the shell), you can do so in the refrigerator for up to a week after cooking. All stored hard-boiled eggs must be consumed within a week.

5. Eggs should never be frozen in their shells. If you want to freeze eggs, you can either beat the yolks and whites together, or keep the whites separately, and then freeze them for up to a year.

6. If you are refrigerating leftover cooked egg dishes, like curries, make sure you use them up within three-four days.

Egg Cooking Tips

1. Always wash your hands, utensils, cooking equipment and work surfaces with warm, soapy water before and after coming in contact with raw eggs.

2. If you’re cooking fried or sunny side-up eggs, make sure both the yolk and whites are firm before you serve them.

3. Scrambled eggs can be thick and saucy (think cheese sauce consistency), but never runny and undercooked.

4. Curries, casseroles and other egg dishes much be cooked to a minimum of 160° F. 

5. If you’re preparing poached or undercooked/half cooked eggs, make sure the eggs are sourced from farms that destroy Salmonella by pasteurization or other approved methods.

Egg Serving Tips

1. Hard-boiled eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs and egg-containing dishes like quiches or souffles should be served immediately after cooking.

2. If you want to refrigerate cooked egg dishes for later service, make sure they are reheated to 165° F before serving.

3. Never leaved cooked egg dishes out of the refrigerator for more than two hours. 

4. Never reheat boiled eggs in a microwave as the yolks can explode and lead to fire safety issues (and a lot of cleaning up).