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Health Canada, the Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada and the Breastfeeding Committee of Canada recommend introducing whole eggs as early as six months or as soon as your child starts eating solid food. Research shows that introducing whole eggs early in a baby’s diet can help reduce the risk of developing an egg allergy.

The best-before date on egg packaging refers to the length of time eggs will retain their Grade A quality, provided they are stored correctly. This date is usually 28 to 35 days after the date they are packaged. If you choose to use eggs after the best before date has past, make sure that they look and smell normal (odourless), and use in baking or other dishes where they will be thoroughly cooked. Throw away any eggs that smell rotten or bad upon cracking the shell.

Raw eggs can be frozen unshelled. Simply crack the shell, remove it and place the egg in an airtight container. If you only want to freeze the yolk, add a pinch of sugar or salt to keep it from gelling.

The Canadian market offers eggs that have been washed, inspected, sorted and distributed according to size, weight, etc. When we wash eggs, we strip off the protective film on the shell, and the eggs must then be stored in the refrigerator to stay fresh. A low, even temperature limits moisture loss through the pores of the eggshell. Refrigeration keeps eggs fresh until the best-before date shown on the packaging.

All eggs are first sent to the grading station before being shipped to the grocery store. There, they are washed in a sanitizing solution and scrubbed with rotating brushes to remove any dirt or bacteria on the shell. There’s no need to wash your eggs at home.

An egg with a blood spot is safe to eat. Blood spots are merely caused by a ruptured blood vessel during egg formation. They account for less than 1% of eggs and are usually sorted out from the rest. However, since it’s harder to see the blood spots in brown eggs, some can slip through among the others. If you like, you can remove the blood with the tip of a clean knife before cooking the egg.

A fresh egg placed in a bowl of water will sink to the bottom, but an egg that is no longer fresh will float to the surface. This phenomenon occurs as moisture evaporates and air expands in the egg’s inner chamber over time. Even if an egg is less fresh, you may use it. However, always make sure that it looks and smells normal (odourless), and use it in baking or other dishes where it will be thoroughly cooked. Throw away any eggs that smell rotten or bad upon cracking the shell.

The way you cook your eggs affects its nutritional value. To best maintain your eggs’ nutritional integrity, choose a cooking method that uses no fat such as hard-boiling or poaching.

The eggs you buy at the grocery store have never been fertilized, and the laying hens have never seen a rooster in their lives. So, you can be sure that you’ll never find a chick in any egg.