Remanufactured Eggs

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only want
to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen, prepackaged
from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a thought,
they're nuts.

Jill (born in CA)

jmcquown said:

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts. Jill (born in CA)

Why? In many countries you just buy the loose eggs and pick them up and pack them yourself. I've
even been to shops in the US that you pack your own eggs. So what is wrong here? If there was some
reason to have concern, I don't know why the shop doesn't just price the remaining half carton
(remember when the cartons came with the split line in the cardboard for just this purpose? These
were the cartons in prestyrofoam days) and offer it up at half the carton price? Goomba

in article [email hidden], jmcquown at
[email hidden] wrote on 1/31/04 2:27 AM:

Quoted message said:

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only want
to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts.

Jill (born in CA)

What is the big deal? Those half cartons are never around for long, anyway, at least around here.
Someone always wants just a half-dozen, and they are not going to break another one apart when one
is already there.

The supermarkets here do not sell pre-packaged half-dozens, except those very expensive, branded,
organic eggs. I spent my first 5 summers on my grandparents' chicken farm in Northeastern
Connecticut....no way in hell I'm buying name brand eggs! Eggs are Eggs. (I have seen small stores
or farm markets selling half-dozens in boxes with just 6 cups, though. Just not at the supermarket
where I usually buy eggs).

That being said, don't you check your egg carton before putting it in the cart? If one egg seems
smaller than the others, you swap it for another from another carton.

What do you think the stores do with the cartons of eggs where one is broken and 11 are fine????
They do not toss 12 eggs because it sat in a package with one broken. They repack the good ones into
a new package. How is this different from taking the unwanted half-dozens and repackaging them with
others into new cartons?

I just don't understand the hysteria on this one.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Goomba38 said:

jmcquown said:

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without
a thought, they're nuts. Jill (born in CA)

Why? In many countries you just buy the loose eggs and pick them up and pack them yourself. I've
even been to shops in the US that you pack your own eggs. So what is wrong here? If there was some
reason to have concern, I don't know why the shop doesn't just price the remaining half carton
(remember when the cartons came with the split line in the cardboard for just this purpose? These
were the cartons in prestyrofoam days) and offer it up at half the carton price? Goomba

'cause that would make too much sense??? ;-)

Our local market sells 1/2 dozen cartons. Makes it easy.

K.

--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

Quoted message said:

,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<[email hidden]>,,<

cgi6.ebay.comeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗

Sheryl Rosen <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

in article [email hidden], jmcquown at [email hidden] wrote on
1/31/04 2:27 AM:

Quoted message said:

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only
want to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts.

Jill (born in CA)

What is the big deal? Those half cartons are never around for long, anyway, at least around here.
Someone always wants just a half-dozen, and they are not going to break another one apart when one
is already there.

The supermarkets here do not sell pre-packaged half-dozens, except those very expensive, branded,
organic eggs. I spent my first 5 summers on my grandparents' chicken farm in Northeastern
Connecticut....no way in hell I'm buying name brand eggs! Eggs are Eggs. (I have seen small stores
or farm markets selling half-dozens in boxes with just 6 cups, though. Just not at the supermarket
where I usually buy eggs).

That being said, don't you check your egg carton before putting it in the cart? If one egg seems
smaller than the others, you swap it for another from another carton.

What do you think the stores do with the cartons of eggs where one is broken and 11 are fine????
They do not toss 12 eggs because it sat in a package with one broken. They repack the good ones
into a new package. How is this different from taking the unwanted half-dozens and repackaging
them with others into new cartons?

I just don't understand the hysteria on this one.

I don't understand the hysteria on most of the food-borne/food-prep health issues today. Most, but
admittedly not all, food-related diseases have been around forever. I have never had a sick day in
my life from foods prepared in anyone's home, and I know that neither my kitchen nor those of
friends where I've eaten were sanitized like clinical labs. People have gone nuts about this and it
just isn't a big deal. It only takes a modicum of common sense to store and prepare/cook food
properly. The human body has a natural resistance to all but the very worst of these types of
diseases. The day I feel it necessary to swath all my kitchen surfaces in bleach and anti-bacterial
solutions is the day I stop cooking. Commercial food preparation is another issue.

Wayne

Sheryl Rosen wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

The supermarkets here do not sell pre-packaged half-dozens, except those very expensive, branded,
organic eggs. I spent my first 5 summers on my grandparents' chicken farm in Northeastern
Connecticut....no way in hell

I'm

Quoted message said:

buying name brand eggs! Eggs are Eggs.

no, organic eggs are eggs laid by chickens that have only been fed organic feed. they taste the same
though. (at least to me)

--
Saerah

TANSTAAFL

Hangovers only last a day, but a good drinking story lives on forever....

in article [email hidden], Goomba38 at [email hidden]
wrote on 1/31/04 11:07 AM:

Quoted message said:

jmcquown said:

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts. Jill (born in CA)

Why? In many countries you just buy the loose eggs and pick them up and pack them yourself. I've
even been to shops in the US that you pack your own eggs. So what is wrong here? If there was some
reason to have concern, I don't know why the shop doesn't just price the remaining half carton
(remember when the cartons came with the split line in the cardboard for just this purpose? These
were the cartons in prestyrofoam days) and offer it up at half the carton price? Goomba

Because Jill needs something to be hysterical about. And this is just stupid enough to
fill the bill.

in article [email hidden], Saerah at [email hidden] wrote
on 1/31/04 11:40 AM:

Quoted message said:

Sheryl Rosen wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

The supermarkets here do not sell pre-packaged half-dozens, except those very expensive, branded,
organic eggs. I spent my first 5 summers on my grandparents' chicken farm in Northeastern
Connecticut....no way in hell

I'm

Quoted message said:

buying name brand eggs! Eggs are Eggs.

no, organic eggs are eggs laid by chickens that have only been fed organic feed. they taste the
same though. (at least to me)

So then.....it's true. Eggs are Eggs. You said so yourself. They taste the same.

I know about organic feed, etc. But they are still eggs. They taste the same. Eggs are Eggs.

Sheryl Rosen said:

Because Jill needs something to be hysterical about. And this is just stupid enough to fill
the bill.

Down girl, down!! If you disagree, so be it. Don't sink to this level.. it demeans you.
Honest. Goomba

In article <[email hidden]>,

Goomba38 said:

Sheryl Rosen said:

Because Jill needs something to be hysterical about. And this is just stupid enough to fill
the bill.

Down girl, down!! If you disagree, so be it. Don't sink to this level.. it demeans you.
Honest. Goomba

Ugh, that's it... I'm going back to sleep for a couple of hours. Both me AND my computer! LOL!

Nighty night.

K. (who was up most of the night on similar news posts,

--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...

Quoted message said:

,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<[email hidden]>,,<

cgi6.ebay.comeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗

Sheryl Rosen said:

So then.....it's true. Eggs are Eggs. You said so yourself. They taste the same.

I know about organic feed, etc. But they are still eggs. They taste the same. Eggs are Eggs.

I'll bite. Range-fed eggs have less saturated fat. Additionally:

``An egg is considered organic if the chicken was only fed organic food and will not have bioaccumu-
lated high levels of pesticides from the grains (mostly bioengineered corn) fed to typical chicke-
ns.''
-- drgrisanti.comegg page.htmOpen ↗

``Range fed eggs have an omega 6:3 ratio of 1.5 to one whereas the "supermarket egg" has a ratio of
20 to one.''
-- mercola.comhealth benefits.htmOpen ↗

And a thought of my own: "supermarket eggs" are likely produced by chickens who have their beeks cut
off and are regularly treated with antibiotics to keep them alive. Not an endearing thought.

Ben
--
Never wear your best pants when you go to fight for freedom.

Goomba38 said:

jmcquown said:

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts. Jill (born in CA)

Why? In many countries you just buy the loose eggs and pick them up and pack them yourself. I've
even been to shops in the US that you pack your own eggs. So what is wrong here? If there was some
reason to have concern, I don't know why the shop doesn't just price the remaining half carton
(remember when the cartons came with the split line in the cardboard for just this purpose? These
were the cartons in prestyrofoam days) and offer it up at half the carton price? Goomba

Because the OP said, and I quote:

"When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only want to buy half a carton), the
extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons. No attention is paid to date codes
or even matching up the egg sizes."

That's why. It's not the same as if they were simply picking up loose eggs or split line the
cartons. Apparently they are repacking them. That's the concern here.

Oh, and Sheryl, get a friggin life. Nothing hysterical about this post.

Jill

Sheryl Rosen said:

in article [email hidden], jmcquown at [email hidden] wrote on
1/31/04 2:27 AM:

Quoted message said:

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only
want to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts.

Jill (born in CA)

What is the big deal? That being said, don't you check your egg carton before putting it in the
cart? If one egg seems smaller than the others, you swap it for another from another carton.

(snip)

Quoted message said:

I just don't understand the hysteria on this one.

I don't understand your equating concern with "hysteria". Perhaps that is because you are used to
being hysterical most of the time.

Jill

Sheryl Rosen wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

in article [email hidden], Saerah at [email hidden] wrote on 1/31/04 11:40 AM:

Quoted message said:

Sheryl Rosen wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

The supermarkets here do not sell pre-packaged half-dozens, except those very expensive,
branded, organic eggs. I spent my first 5 summers on my grandparents' chicken farm in
Northeastern Connecticut....no way in hell

I'm

Quoted message said:

buying name brand eggs! Eggs are Eggs.

no, organic eggs are eggs laid by chickens that have only been fed

organic

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

feed. they taste the same though. (at least to me)

So then.....it's true. Eggs are Eggs. You said so yourself. They taste the same.

I know about organic feed, etc. But they are still eggs. They taste the same. Eggs are Eggs.

well, yeah, they are still eggs. but at least one doesnt have to worry about possible contamination
by peasticides, and antibiotics.

--
Saerah

TANSTAAFL

Hangovers only last a day, but a good drinking story lives on forever....

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 06:40:42 GMT, Mark Thorson <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told me
something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only want to
buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons. No
attention is paid to date codes or even matching up the egg sizes. I told her I'm pretty sure
that's illegal.

I should have asked her where the new cartons come from. Do they keep a supply of empties around?
How do they get these? Do the egg suppliers provide them? That would make it a conspiracy.

There's probably not more than a 3-day difference between the newest and oldest egg in the store.
Eggs are good for up to 45 days. All the eggs are probably bought with 35 days of shelf life left.

I think there's more important things to worry about than which egg is 7, and which is 10 days old.

I would suspect the half-dozen eggs are used to fill in replacements in packages that have one or
two broken/cracked eggs. Replacing the carton would be required since many of those will have leaked
eggs in them.

Or maybe you think they should throw out 11 eggs because 1 is cracked?

-sw

jmcquown said:

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only want
to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen, prepackaged
from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a thought,
they're nuts.

Jill (born in CA)

I think you're naive, Jill.

I didn't know about this practice, but I'm sure LOTS of individual employees at grocery stores do
whatever they think will maximize sales.

If putting old half-carton eggs into whole dozen boxes is likely (in their mind) to make the eggs
sell better, I'm sure they don't feel they're doing anything wrong.

It isn't a matter of it "being allowed". It just happens.

Alan said:

If putting old half-carton eggs into whole dozen boxes is likely (in their mind) to make the eggs
sell better, I'm sure they don't feel they're doing anything wrong.

It isn't a matter of it "being allowed". It just happens.

I doubt half cartons of eggs are sitting around aging at any faster pace than the other eggs on
display. I am also pretty sure eggs have a fast turn over time in stores and rarely expire per the
"sell by date"? I also suspect that this is hardly anything alarming nor new in practice. Goomba

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only want
to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts.

At the local health food store, you can buy eggs in any number, from one through to whatever. You
take a carton which customers use and return to the store and package as many as you want. There
is no expiry date, probably because the turnover in eggs is quite rapid and it doesn't matter
that much.

--

"I'm the master of low expectations."

GWB, aboard Air Force One, 04Jun2003

Alan said:

jmcquown said:

Mark Thorson said:

A friend of mine is an assistant manager at a California-based supermarket chain. Today she told
me something interesting. When a customer breaks a carton of eggs in half (because they only
want to buy half a carton), the extra half cartons are collected and reloaded into new cartons.

(snip)

I cannot imagine such a thing being allowed. I either buy a dozen eggs or a half dozen,
prepackaged from the farm supplier. If they let someone do this and then repackage them without a
thought, they're nuts.

Jill (born in CA)

I think you're naive, Jill.

Perhaps... but then again I don't eat a lot of eggs. I maybe a half dozen every couple of months. If
I'm going to make quiche you might find me buying as many as a dozen at a whack 🙂 I guess the term
"expired" set me off.

Jill

Quoted message said:

I didn't know about this practice, but I'm sure LOTS of individual employees at grocery stores do
whatever they think will maximize sales.

If putting old half-carton eggs into whole dozen boxes is likely (in their mind) to make the eggs
sell better, I'm sure they don't feel they're doing anything wrong.

It isn't a matter of it "being allowed". It just happens.