How Long Do Eggs Last After the Sell-By Date?

You want an omelette. You open the carton, and the date stamped on the end was nine days ago. The eggs look exactly like eggs. They offer no further comment.

So, how long do eggs last after the sell-by date? Often a few weeks, and the date is the wrong thing to count from. The number that matters is how long they've been in your fridge, which the USDA puts at 3 to 5 weeks. The facts below come from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and FoodSafety.gov.

The short answer

Both FSIS and FoodSafety.gov list raw eggs in the shell at 3 to 5 weeks in the refrigerator. Neither chart mentions the carton date, and FSIS is plain about what a sell-by date is: it tells the store how long to display the product, and it is not a safety date.

So how long do eggs last after the sell-by date in practice? Neither agency publishes an official figure, because it depends on how much time was left when you bought them. Here's the arithmetic, which is ours, applying the fridge number to a few common cases:

• Bought two weeks before the sell-by date: 3 to 5 weeks at home ends about 1 to 3 weeks after the date.
• Bought one week before: about 2 to 4 weeks after.
• Bought on the date itself: about 3 to 5 weeks after.

All of that assumes the eggs stayed cold the whole time. FSIS says refrigerated eggs shouldn't be left out for more than 2 hours, and that rule beats anything printed on the carton.

What the numbers on the carton mean

An egg carton can carry several dates, and they aren't all saying the same thing.

Sell by and EXP

Instructions for the store. On USDA-graded eggs, this date can be no more than 30 days after the eggs were packed. FSIS notes that these dates aren't a federal requirement, though some states have their own egg laws on them, and some states don't allow “sell by” at all. That's why your carton might not have one.

Best before and use by

These are about quality: how long you can expect the eggs to stay at their best when stored well. On USDA-graded eggs, they can run up to 45 days, counting the pack date.

The three-digit pack date

This is the most useful number on the carton, and the one nobody reads. Cartons with the USDA grade shield must show the day the eggs were washed, graded and packed, as a number from 001 (January 1) to 365 (December 31). So 300 means October 27 in a normal year. If you can't remember when you bought a carton, the pack date at least tells you the earliest it could have reached your fridge.

How to check an older egg

The float test, and what it doesn't tell you

Everyone's heard of this one, and it gets over-read. As an egg ages, it loses moisture through the shell and the air pocket inside gets bigger. Enough air and it floats. FSIS says a floating egg is of poor quality, but “may be perfectly safe to use.” So a float isn't a verdict. It's a reason to look closer.

Crack it into a separate bowl

This is the real test, and it's what FSIS recommends. Crack the egg into a bowl, not straight into your batter, and check it:

• Smell.A spoiled egg has an unpleasant odor when you break the shell, and you won't need to think hard about it.
• Pink or iridescent white. Throw it out. FSIS says this means spoilage from Pseudomonas bacteria, and some of them are harmful to people.

Things that look wrong but aren't

• A clear white. Just an aging egg. A cloudy white means a very fresh one.
• A flat yolk and a runny white.Also age. The egg spreads out further in the pan, and that's a quality change.
• A blood spot.A tiny vessel that ruptured when the egg formed. FSIS says it doesn't make the egg unsafe.
• A pale or deep yellow yolk.That comes from the hen's diet.

The part no test can catch

Smell and float tell you about age and spoilage. They don't tell you about Salmonella. FSIS is clear that even an unbroken, clean, fresh egg can contain it, so a brand-new carton gets the same rules as an old one. Cook eggs until both the white and the yolk are firm, cook egg casseroles to 160°F, and use pasteurized eggs for anything that calls for them raw or undercooked. FSIS also says bacteria can get in through cracks, so don't buy cracked eggs.

How to make eggs last the full 5 weeks

• Move them off the door. FSIS says to keep them in the coldest part of the fridge, because opening the door keeps warming that spot. Yes, the door has a tray shaped exactly like eggs. Ignore it.
• Leave them in the carton,in a fridge at 40°F or below.
• Don't wash them. Wash water can get pulled in through the pores in the shell. USDA-graded eggs were already washed and sanitized at the plant.
• Freeze extras out of the shell.FoodSafety.gov says not to freeze eggs in the shell. Beat the yolks and whites together, then freeze. Whites on their own last 12 months in the freezer; yolks on their own don't freeze well.

Once they're cooked, a new clock starts. Hard-cooked eggs keep for a week if they're refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking. Cooked egg dishes and quiche get 3 to 4 days. The rest of those numbers are in how long leftovers last in the fridge, and for every other date in your kitchen, see best-by vs use-by.

What older eggs are actually better for

Here's the good news about that aging carton. FSIS says older eggs make better candidates for hard cooking, because the white's chemistry changes with age and the shell peels off more easily. A slightly older carton is the one you want for these, all from the Custrd recipe library:

• Deviled Eggs: six eggs, mayonnaise, yellow mustard and paprika.
• Egg Salad: six eggs, two potatoes, mayonnaise, mustard and green onions, closer to a potato salad than a sandwich filling.
• Mustard Egg Salad: six eggs with green cabbage, Dijon, white wine vinegar and chives.
• Egg Curry: six eggs in onion, tomato, green chili and curry powder, with lime on the side.
• Spinach Curry with Boiled Eggs: four eggs, spinach, garam masala and a little heavy cream.
• Tomato and Hard-Boiled Egg Salad: four eggs, yellow tomatoes, basil and good olive oil.

There's one thing older eggs are worse at. FSIS says the thinner white loses some of its thickening and leavening power, so save the freshest carton for anything that depends on whipped whites. If the white only has to set, age matters a lot less. These use a lot of eggs and cook them all the way through:

• Frittata: six eggs, mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil.
• Herb Frittata: eight eggs, spinach, Parmesan and whatever soft herbs are also on their way out.
• Spanish Omelette: six eggs and two potatoes, with tomato, rosemary and parsley.
• Quiche Lorraine: four eggs, bacon, heavy cream and milk in a pie crust.
• Bread Pudding: two eggs, four slices of bread, milk, sugar and cinnamon. It also rescues the stale end of the loaf.

If you've got eggs and a few other odds and ends and can't see what they add up to, the Custrd recipe finder matches what you type against the library, free in your browser with no signup. There's also a whole post on what to make with eggs and cheese.

The real problem is remembering

Nobody writes down the day they bought eggs. So the carton's date becomes the deadline by default, and a perfectly good dozen goes in the bin. That's not carelessness. The only number in front of you was the wrong one.

Custrd keeps the right one. The photos you take to find dinner build your Kitchen, a running list of what you have, where each item gets a freshness estimate you can edit. When something is running short on time, it shows up under “Use soon” with real meals built around it, which is the idea behind cooking through what you already own. Try Custrd free for 7 days on iPhone from the App Store; it's on Android too.

The whole thing on one line

How long do eggs last after the sell-by date? Count from the day they went in your fridge instead: 3 to 5 weeks if they stayed cold, which often means a few weeks past the date. Crack a doubtful one into a separate bowl, trust your nose, cook it until firm, and hard-boil the oldest ones first.