How To Tell If Eggs in Your Refrigerator Have Gone Bad

Recently, we had stocked up on eggs for the holidays and the un-used ones became a big topic of conversation concerning whether or not they are safe to eat.

There were two dozen eggs in question - one with a "Best Buy Date of November 18, 2025" and the other with a "Best Buy Date of December 25, 2025." My thoughts are pretty consistent. I feel like people throw perfectly good food out because of a suggestion for ultimate freshness. The food is still good, it might just be not at its ultimate freshness.

But What About Eggs? Here's what the experts say.

Eggs typically reach the grocery store within 4 to 7 days of being laid, although they can legally be sold up to 30 days after being packed. Due to these regulations, eggs found in supermarkets can be 3 to 6 weeks old, or in some cases up to two months old, before purchase. 

Key details regarding egg age and storage: 

•Packing Regulations: Farmers often have up to 30 days to pack eggs after they are laid.

•Shelf Life: Stores may have up to 30 days to sell the eggs after they are packed.

•Identifying Freshness: The "pack date" is indicated by a 3-digit code representing the day of the year (e.g., Jan 1 is 001).

•"Sell-By" Dates: The "sell-by" date should not exceed 45 days after the packing date.

•Safe Consumption: Eggs are generally safe to consume for 3 to 5 weeks after they are purchased. 

By these standards, The Best Buy Date of December 25th, carton should be okay. However, the carton dated back into November should not be consumed.

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There is an easy test to determine if your eggs are still good to consume - it's the float test. If you drop an egg into a bowl of water and it lies flat on the bottom of the bowl, the egg is fresh. If it stands on end with just the top above water it's not fresh, but probably okay to eat. However, if it absolutely floats - the egg has gone bad and should not be used.

So what happened to my two cartons of eggs?

The eggs dated from November were placed in a bowl of water and they completely floated. This means not only are these eggs not fresh, they're probably not fit for consumption.

The eggs from the December carton stood on end and just barely floated in the water. This means the eggs are not fresh, but probably okay to eat.  We decided not to risk it and we threw both cartons away.