Lifestyle

This Shocking Fact About Store-Bought Eggs Will Seriously Gross You Out

by Leigh Weingus
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Whether you enjoy your eggs scrambled, hard-boiled or sunny-side up, chances are you purchased a dozen eggs at a grocery store sometime in the past few months.

Well, I have news for you: A Facebook post about the freshness of store-bought eggs is going viral, and the facts are a little alarming.

A few weeks ago I mentioned how the average grocery store egg might be 45 days old (or more) by the time you buy it. A... Posted by Fresh Eggs Daily on Tuesday, January 19, 2016

In case you weren't in the mood to read the whole post, the only thing you really need to know is the eggs you're buying could be a whopping 45 days old.

Before you freak out, it's worth noting those ancient eggs aren't unsafe to eat. The US Department of Agriculture's requirement that eggs be packed and shipped at 45 degrees Fahrenheit ensures eggs are safe to eat for an extended period of time.

If you're wondering about expiration dates (trust me, that was my first thought, too), those numbers don't have anything to do with how safe a food is to eat. Those dates are about quality, and they're determined by manufacturers.

According to Greatist, the "sell-by" number is for stores, and it lets them know how long a product should be on the shelf. The "best-by" or "use-before" dates indicate when a product is at its highest quality, and the "use-by" date means a product will start deteriorating after that date.

So, yeah, it would be awesome if we all lived on farms and could have fresh eggs for breakfast every morning, and, yeah, thinking about how old your store-bought eggs are is a little gross.

But hey, at least they won't get you sick.

Citations: This Insane Fact About Store-Bought Eggs Is Going Viral (Cosmopolitan), Shell Eggs from Farm to Table (USDA), What Expiration Dates Really Mean (Greatist)