I would check your state's agriculture laws/regulations about eggs. I label mine as described, and sell only to people I know and have yet to have a problem.

I don't know anything about sous vide-ing eggs, sorry. Fresh, unwashed refrigerated eggs keep well for many weeks, so I've never seen the need.

There's good info on the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

I do pasteurize eggs using my sous vide cooker.

My carbonara dish for instance, to have the creamy yolk consistency and not scrambled consistency, the eggs were pasteurized first.

Also for home made ice cream.

dcarch

May I ask your process for pasteurization using your sous vide set-up? I have read 90 degrees F, also 135 degrees F, for one hour thirty-five minutes. Do use an egg rinse first?

I have yet to see pasteurized in-shell eggs though I know they exist. Yours are probably safer than what's in the store, would be my guess. I'd look up the laws just to protect myself. I know the old man down the road doesn't even refrigerate those he sells, and no one seems to be giving him a hard time.

Oops, sorry, I don't raise chickens! ;-)

135 deg for at least 1.25 hours per Douglas Baldwin, who seems to be an authority on such things.

Here is a link that might be useful: Douglas Baldwin

138 F 5 minutes is recommended, I do mine at 140 F for 10 minutes.

That reminds to make some Hollandaise Sauce. :-)

dcarch

I do raise chickens and although I don't sell eggs I give them to my mother, who is nearly 80, and to my daughters who feed them to my grandchildren, including one who is 20 months old. I will also point out that the eggs in the store are not, for most part, pasteurized nor are they tested in any form for salmonella or other contaminants and they come from far larger and dirtier places than my chicken coop. That's why there are all those widely read and heard warnings about raw eggs. So, if your neighbors eat unpasteurized eggs from the store, or sunny side up eggs at the local diner, your eggs are probably healthier than that.

Would I give them to a neighbor undergoing chemotherapy or someone with HIV or a child with a compromised immune system? Probably not and I'd be sure to point out that they are not pasteurized and shouldn't be eaten without cooking.

I am far more comfortable with eggs from my own flock than I have ever been with eggs from the store. I'm assuming your issue with fresh eggs is salmonella? Other than that, eggs don't really spoil unless some contaminant makes it through the pores of the eggshell.

That's why eggs shouldn't be washed, there is a natural coating on eggs which seals those pores and prevents the introduction of bacteria.

My extension service tells me that, absent the introduction of bacteria, eggs usually don't actually spoil quickly, they just dry out. That's why old eggs float, the amount of air inside the shell increases, causing an ever growing air pocket.

Annie

Thank you for all of your, as always, considered responses. I have read that salmonella can be introduced into the interior of the egg before the shell is deposited, and that is primarily my concern. Our hens free range during the day, are in a coop at night, and do get feed and corn supplements, but no antibiotics. I decided to order a used copy of the Baldwin book as it looks very informative. I did tell my neighbor that the eggs were not pasteurized, etc., and she said they (parents and all eight sibs) ate farm eggs when she was growing up and no one ever pasteurized or washed them, so she's fine with that. I read the Maine site, and an article about farm eggs here in Texas, but I am not selling them. Or grading them, LOL. Both were informative, however. Gosh, I've never sous vide-ed eggs before Hollandaise or Bearnaise . . .

KD, you are correct in that, if your hens are infected with salmonella, it's inside the egg itself, as the bacteria is within the hen's reproductive system and thus, transmitted to the egg via the ovaries.

My caution was only meant to point out that, absent the salmonella risk, an egg does not readily spoil or go rotten unless a contaminant is introducted via a crack in the shell or through the porous eggshell without its protective coating.

It is reported that approximately 1 egg in 10,000, mostly from flocks that are infected with salmonella. Um, yeah, that makes sense, LOL.

I've also heard of eggs pasteurized in the shell but have never seen them or used them.

Annie

Happened to good friends of mine. Very ill. I suppose that would cause an upset trying to determine what chicken is affected?
This happened a few years ago. We spent a weekend with them and had the neighbors eggs. Delicious. They had been using the eggs fine for a few years. Perhaps a similar warning since they were not feeding the eggs to their young child. I never did ask what the outcome was. Just curious now. Actually i believe they usually did have eggs together as family but for some reason did not that time. Hmm.

sleevendog, I think that if a flock is infected, the only "cure" is to destroy the flock. Most large egg producers aren't going to do that, although it's an option for back yard chicken keepers like me. In addition, you can vaccinate your chickens against salmonella, via a spray on the hatchlings in the hatchery. It costs about a penny per bird, or did when it was introduced, I'm sure it's more now.

Salmonella can be brought into a flock via rodent droppings in the feed bin, from wild birds, from adding an infected bird to the flock, on the shoes of visitors who have been in a salmonella infected environment. If you have it in the coop, a new batch of chickens can get it from their environment.

So, vaccination is the best option, but one not taken by the big places in large part, probably because of the expense. And because they don't really care about anything except bottom line.

It is my understanding that the vaccine spray can also be used somehow in the processing facilities to eliminate salmonella, but I don't quite understand the mechanism there. They are also working on a salmonella vaccine for humans.

Annie