How long do hard boiled eggs stay good in the refrigerator?

Answer 1

I THOUGHT THIS WAS INTRESTING

From Easter eggs to cookie dough, consumers must take steps to ensure egg safety
It's no yolk. Eggs need to be handled with care
March 31, 1999. . . It may be more topical at Easter, but making sure eggs remain a safe food for consumers is a year around challenge. Like raw meat, poultry, fish, or any other perishable food, eggs need to be properly refrigerated and properly cooked.

"Eggs are a potentially hazardous food and need to be handled as such," says Ron McKay, administrator of the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Division. "Whether it is Easter or some other time of the year, you need to handle eggs properly."

Thoroughly cooking eggs usually renders them safe from pathogens, but some foods have traditionally used raw eggs. The concern rests not only with raw eggs that go into cookie dough or a Caesar Salad, but with the cooked egg as well-- the kind that ends up being brightly colored and decorated during the Easter holiday.

The bacteria Salmonella enteritidis can be found in poultry products, including eggs, and can cause food borne illness. As with most other food products, consumers should purchase eggs wisely, store them properly, and prepare them carefully.

It all starts at the grocery store.

"Eggs are required to be refrigerated at the retail store, at the warehouse, and certainly should be refrigerated at the consumer's home," says McKay. ODA food inspectors routinely check for proper refrigeration and holding of eggs at grocery stores and warehouses.

Once purchased, the eggs should be inspected by the consumer for any cracks, checks, or dirt spots. If any are found, the egg should be discarded. All eggs need to get into the home refrigerator as soon as possible after leaving the grocery store.

"Salmonella enteritidis has been found inside intact eggs, but particularly in cracked or soiled eggs," says McKay. "When eggs are properly cooked there shouldn't be a problem. Refrigeration is a safeguard."

Whether handling raw hamburger, a fresh egg, or just about any other food product, proper hand washing is a must. The eggs themselves don't need to be washed since that should be done by the producers themselves. But again, a visual inspection of the egg should detect any defects.

For Easter, the egg is usually hard boiled and ends up as part of a child's Easter egg hunt. Such eggs make for much fun but probably not for good food.



"Probably the safest thing to do is to avoid consuming those eggs," says McKay. "Once they have been outside or handled and hidden, they could possibly become damaged. The best thing to do is discard them."

Any hard boiled egg needs to be properly cooked--- usually about seven minutes in boiling water-- and then either immediately consumed or quickly refrigerated. Of course, those eggs that have been sitting on the ground or placed in the warm sun for a period of time as part of an egg hunt, should be thrown away.

Decorated Easter eggs in a basket on a table or placed elsewhere inside the home can sit out for three to four hours and still be consumed safely. Any longer outside the refrigerator, and they too should be discarded.

Generally, hard boiled eggs should be thrown out after four days even if they have been properly refrigerated. Uncooked eggs can stay in refrigeration for up to five weeks and still be used, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.

Egg safety is still an issue when Easter is over. As long as people consume raw eggs, there can be a problem.

"Eggs are a potentially hazardous food just like raw meat, raw milk, and raw shellfish," says McKay. "We do not recommend consuming raw eggs. Even products that make use of raw eggs such as cookie dough and Caesar salad should not be consumed. There are pasteurized egg products that be purchased for those who like Caesar salads and raw cookie dough."

That goes for Hollandaise sauce, homemade mayonnaise, or eggnog made from recipes in which the raw egg ingredients are not cooked.

Oregon egg production is a $42 million industry. The majority of eggs purchased by Oregon consumers come from egg farms in Oregon and Washington. Egg lovers need not drive directly to the farm to get the freshest egg.

"Absolutely not," says Dann Barnard of Willamette Egg Farms in Canby. "Modern production and processing technology has given us the ability to move eggs at an almost dizzying pace. At the same time, we are handling these eggs with sanitation and food safety in mind. A lot of science is applied in our industry to ensure the consumer is purchasing a safe and sound product."

Barnard says eggs will almost always arrive at your grocery store in less than a week from the day they were produced. More often than not, they arrive within a day or two-- especially in heavy consumption periods such as Easter.

But Barnard cautions the consumer against equating freshness with food safety.

"An egg can be safe without being fresh," he says. "Oregon egg producers and egg producers nationwide are working very hard with state and federal agencies to make sure eggs are handled in a manner that ensures the safest product possible. That does require that retailers and consumers follow some basic but important guidelines: Keep them cold, keep them clean, cook them."

Eggs can be a part of a healthy diet during Easter and all parts of the year. It's only when they are mishandled that they are likely to become unhealthy.

Answer 2

While uncooked eggs can be stored for about 3 weeks after they are purchases, hard-boiled eggs, however, should be consumed within a week.

Egg shells are porous. The hen makes up for this by adding a natural coating, but the government insists that eggs be washed and sanitized before being sold, which washes away the coating. The egg processor sprays on a thin coating of an odorless natural mineral oil to reseal the egg. But cooking washes this coating away leaving a drafty shell once more, which is susceptible to the invasion of odors, off-flavors, and bacteria.

Hence the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Egg Board, and other egg know-it-alls give you a week to use up your hard-boiled eggs (providing you got them into the refrigerator within two hours of cooking).

Answer 3

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How long do hard boiled eggs stay good in the refrigerator?

Answer 4

I would say about 5 days then i would trash them