As an American, I cannot legally touch any egg that hasn't been ultra-pasteurized followed by continuous cold chain refrigeration and served in either a Styrofoam or pulped paper cardboard egg carton.

Here's a pic of some washed eggs in a refrigerator to scare the Europeans.

Bonus:

Microwaved water for tea.

can confirm, am shook

In the US, there's a concern for salmonella or other bacteria and viruses. Factory egg farming is a horror show in regards to overcrowding and hygiene. Sick birds are crammed in with healthy laying birds, and washing the eggs is one of the safest ways to prevent contamination.

It does increase the permeability of the shell, decreasing shelf life and requiring refrigeration.

If your eggs looked like this in the USA, there's a small but non-zero chance that you'll shit yourself to death. Probably not, but it's scary enough.

We could improve factory farming regulations so it's not a like a Cronenberg movie, but then eggs would be more expensive. And even if we did, and stopped washing our eggs, Americans would still want them to look clean and would still keep them in the fridge because we've been conditioned to expect to die on the toilet covered in wet feces if we see bird poop on the eggs.

This probably goes without saying to anyone who has chickens but a message to rest DO NOT WASH your eggs. It's the stupidest thing you can do. When you wash them you remove protective layer and they can't last long outside of refrigerator. Even in the fridge chances of getting Salmonella grows very fast.

Not Americans that are used to eating farm fresh eggs from the local farmers market. I lived in downtown Austin until recently and getting freshly picked produce from local and urban farms every Saturday was one of my favorite parts of my week.

My guy, I grew up on a chicken farm. This does not scare me.

There are tons of back yard chickens in the USA, even in many cities.

I grew up raising chickens among other animals. Poop and feathers on eggs was the norm. This ‘50s processed white bread, white sugar, clean eggs, etc. that was the sign of “progress” I guess IMO has done more harm than good in some ways.

Am American living in the city with 8 chickens. The only scary thing is seeing eggs in the market go for $10/dozen

But my fridge has a little spot just for the eggs. They look so cozy there. I actually don’t know where I’d keep something as fragile as eggs outside my fridge in the kitchen. Genuine question where do you keep your eggs safe? Do they often break?

Am american and this: is what I have in my fridge right now. Rural living win.

Ugh it came out the ass

The biggest reason eggs are refrigerated in the US is because they're not vaccinated for salmonella, so refrigeration is needed to inhibit growth. The US was able to do that since they have the infrastructure for end to end refrigeration. It's not necessarily wrong, it's just another way to do it. Since salmonella can also be on the outside of the egg they need to be washed, and since they're refrigerated the loss of the protective layer doesn't matter. I guess in Europe with the vaccination it also lowers the chance of salmonella on the outside of the egg allowing the outside to remain unwashed and protective of the inside making refrigeration unnecessary. There's just not enough of a reason to change things in the us now since the refrigeration method is already in place and switching would cost more up front. The main downside is that you can't eat raw eggs in the US which means some dishes can't be made, but the vast majority of the US isn't interested in raw egg dishes anyways.