Eggs in the car - how long is too long?

[Anonymous]

Went to pick up groceries and not realizing it, it took a long time to get back home - traffic, a few other drive thru errands on the way home. Just realized the eggs had been in the car for nearly an hour and a half from when I got them at the store. Is that too long?

Eggs were in the car, not the trunk, and had the AC on the whole time.

Any guidance on this? I feel like the guidance is always about egg salad/eggs with mayo sitting out etc. not raw eggs from the store.

[Anonymous]

I, and many other people, leave my eggs on the counter. It is is fine. - MPH

[Anonymous]

I think it's totally fine. You're not planning on eating them raw, right?

[Anonymous]

Chicken butts are warmer than your car so you’re fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I, and many other people, leave my eggs on the counter. It is is fine. - MPH

In the US? Since when? I know people always say this about Europe but their eggs aren't washed so that's different.

[Anonymous]

Where did you go? I mean where they left alone in a hot car if you had to go inside somewhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where did you go? I mean where they left alone in a hot car if you had to go inside somewhere?

OP here - car/AC were never turned off. Ran a few other errands but curbside so car stayed on.

[Anonymous]

You are fine, OP.

[Anonymous]

I will take it from you. Didn’t your mother teach you anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where did you go? I mean where they left alone in a hot car if you had to go inside somewhere?

OP here - car/AC were never turned off. Ran a few other errands but curbside so car stayed on.

I would say that they are ok then. I also like the curbside pick up option.

[Anonymous]

It's totally fine.

[Anonymous]

I put the over/under at 1 month. In a hot trunk of glove compartment, 15 days.

[Anonymous]

They’re fine, OP. In the carton, they probably barely warmed up.

[Anonymous]

Totally fine. You're not finding guidance on it because it's not an issue, at all.

There are two main issues with eggs, age or salmonella.

Salmonella: the problem is mostly on the shell itself. Small risk of salmonella developing inside the egg, but vary rare. It's usually introduced on the shell, then the inside gets contaminated when you crack the shell open. Mostly mitigated by how we treat eggs in the US prior to sale, but if in doubt, cook the egg well to kill off any salmonella contamination. Letting the uncracked egg sit for an hour or two won't make any difference here, if there was salmonella on the shell to begin with there will still be a bit there later, but it's not growing in a medium that you'll actually be eating - the risk of introduction doesn't really change. The reason you hear guidance on egg products is the risk that salmonella was introduced when the egg was cracked, and THEN it sat at an unsafe temperature for an hour or two for the salmonella to grow in the egg medium. (Incidentally, the recommendations on egg salad or deviled eggs actually have more to do with the mayo than the eggs themselves....)

Age: as eggs age, they absorb air through the shell, water evaporates, and the chemistry within the egg changes. This leads to the classic "rotten egg" (totally different from salmonella, which doesn't smell), but it won't be affected by an hour or two of warmth - it happens over longer periods of time (days/weeks at room temp, weeks/months at refrigerator temp). Two ways to test: float test, or crack and smell. Float test: put the egg in a bowl of water. If it sinks on its side, it's really fresh. If it sinks standing up on end, it's slightly older but still good to eat (air pocket is growing as it absorbs air, so one end stands up). If it floats, toss it. Crack and smell: just like it sounds. If it smells bad or the egg white has a fluorescent yellow glow to it, toss it.

[Anonymous]

Left 1&1/2 doz store purchased eggs in vehicle for two days in 80-90 plus degree weather, would they still be good????