Why I Never Wash Eggs Before Putting Them in My Fridge

Have you ever picked up a freshly laid egg, still warm in your hand, and felt the urge to wash it immediately, as if cleanliness must come before anything else?

I understand that instinct very well as I had it once too. But after decades of raising chickens, collecting thousands of eggs, and learning both from experience and from mistakes, I do the opposite. 

I never wash eggs before putting them in my fridge, and that decision is one of the quiet habits that keeps my eggs fresher, safer, and longer-lasting than most people expect.

What an Egg Is Designed to Protect

When a hen lays an egg, it comes coated in a thin, invisible layer called the bloom, sometimes called the cuticle. You can’t see it, but it’s there, covering the shell like a natural shield.

That bloom seals the tiny pores in the shell and acts as the egg’s first line of defense against bacteria, moisture loss, and air exchange.

On my farm, eggs come out of the nest looking clean most of the time, with the occasional bit of straw or dust clinging to the shell. 

Even when they don’t look perfect, they are still protected by that bloom, doing its job quietly without needing help from me. The moment you wash an egg, especially with water, that protection is gone.

What Washing Actually Does to an Egg

Washing an egg removes the bloom, and once it’s gone, it cannot be replaced. 

Warm water opens the pores of the shell, and if the water is cooler than the egg, it can actually draw bacteria inward rather than rinsing it away. Even clean water can create a pathway that wasn’t there before.

After washing, the egg becomes more vulnerable to absorbing odors, moisture, and microorganisms, which is why washed eggs must be refrigerated immediately and still don’t last as long as unwashed ones.

I learned this early on, watching eggs I had washed spoil faster than eggs I hadn’t touched at all.

How I Handle Eggs Instead of Washing Them

When I collect eggs, I handle them gently and deliberately. I check each shell as I place it into the basket. 

If there is loose dirt or a bit of bedding stuck to the shell, I brush it off with a dry cloth or a soft brush. Most of the time, that’s all that’s needed.

If an egg is heavily soiled, I don’t wash it and store it. I set it aside and plan to use it soon, usually for cooking the same day. Those eggs never go into long-term storage.

Clean, dry eggs with their bloom intact go straight into the fridge, placed point-side down to keep the air cell stable. They can last for weeks, often much longer, without any loss in quality.

Why Refrigeration Still Matters

Some people ask why I refrigerate eggs at all if I don’t wash them. The answer is consistency. Once eggs go into the fridge, they stay there. 

Temperature stability matters, and moving eggs in and out of cold storage creates condensation, which can compromise the shell over time.

By refrigerating unwashed eggs and keeping them there, I slow down aging while preserving the natural defenses the egg already has. It’s a balance between modern storage and old knowledge.

When I Do Wash Eggs

I do wash eggs, just not before storage.

Just before cracking an egg into a pan or bowl, I rinse it quickly under running water and dry it immediately. At that point, the bloom no longer matters, because the egg is about to be opened anyway.

What I Wish More People Knew

Washing eggs feels like the responsible thing to do, especially if you didn’t grow up around chickens. But responsibility isn’t always about intervention. Sometimes it’s about restraint and trust in natural design.

Eggs have been surviving long before refrigerators and detergents existed. They don’t need to be scrubbed to be safe.