An egg carton I saw at a supermarket the other day said “the eggs keep their nutrients for 7 days after they were laid”. The package date on the carton read November 16, so it was past that 7 day mark already, but not past the expiration date of course.
I tried to google this but didn’t find anything relevant. I’d never heard anything about this and it surprised me. Do chicken eggs really lose some of their nutrients if it’s been longer than a week since they were laid? If so, which nutrients are those and why does it happen?
I have a farming friend that dips her eggs in mineral oil and stores them in a cool basement for up to a year. It’s my understanding that USA mass-produced eggs have a thinner shell, causing them to lose their nutrients and spoil faster, which is why they refrigerate eggs.
Light, heat, and oxygen tend to degrade many nutrients (such as vitamins, fatty acids, etc.), over time. Egg’s are packed with many different nutrients. The fresher they are the better; keep them in a fridge if you don’t plan to use them up too quickly.