Australian Grocery Stores Are Arguing on Twitter About Whether or Not to Refrigerate Eggs

When it comes to food safety, it can sometimes be tricky to differentiate between old wives' tales and science-based caution.

For instance, there's the ceaseless controversy about whether microwaving your food is harmful (probably not), whether the five-second rule is legit (maybe), and whether food poisoning is truly avoidable at all. We have the government telling us to give the expired food piled in the catacombs of our crisper drawer a chance—but then we hear statistics that one in six Americans get food poisoning every year, and 3,000 kick the bucket from foodborne illness.

So here's the problem: We don't want to be too friendly to ol' norovirus, salmonella, and E. coli. But we also don't want to be overly cautious to the point of wastefulness.

In the US, for instance, there are certain precautions that are taken everywhere. Packaged foods feature expiration dates, while meat and dairy are refrigerated round-the-clock in supermarkets. But in other countries, these practices aren't necessarily considered givens.

Australian consumers are currently caught between two schools of thought regarding how they should store their eggs. The old-school way is to just shove them on the shelf and not worry about it, but shoppers are increasingly concerned that the lack of refrigeration is making their eggs overly hospitable to salmonella—especially during the continent's scorching summer months, which are currently underway.

Supermarket chain Woolworths has assured customers that it will henceforth be storing all of its eggs on refrigerated shelves, but rival chain Coles hasn't vowed to follow suit. And customers are pissed.

Coles shoppers are taking to social media, vowing to boycott its stores and make their grocery purchases at Woolworths until the supermarkets follow suit and agree to chill their eggs. But instead of bowing straight away to consumer pressure, Coles has opted to vehemently defend itself via social media, arguing that it's still adhering to health and safety standards, which do not currently require refrigeration in Australia.

@maddekatie FSANZ advises there's no need to refrigerate hen's eggs to prevent bacterial growth, as long as they remain intact. 2/2

— Coles Supermarkets (@Coles) January 11, 2016

@sydbusinspector we adhere to all health & safety regulations for egg storage. 1/2 — Coles Supermarkets (@Coles) January 11, 2016

@robbineal we understand Robbi. Refrigerating eggs doesn't significantly reduce the risk of salmonella. — Coles Supermarkets (@Coles) January 8, 2016

@coles Just another reason to boycott #coles as it won't sell eggs from refrigerated cabinets. #Aldi also guilty. #woolworths here I come. — Apples (@appleshk) January 9, 2016

@eatay3 FSANZ advises that there is no need to refrigerate hen's eggs to prevent bacterial growth, as long as they remain intact. — Coles Supermarkets (@Coles) January 8, 2016

Food Safety Australia and New Zealand standards permit keeping eggs on room-temperature shelving alongside other shelf-stable foods, such as cereal, although many Australian egg producers and wholesalers recommend refrigeration. However, prior to their arrival at stores, the eggs must be rinsed, inspected, graded, and stored and transported in chilled rooms to minimize bacterial growth.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, food poisoning peaks in Australia in the summer months, and only recently have officials thought to point fingers at supermarkets for contributing to outbreaks with their egg storage practices.

Supermarket shelves are the "missing link" between farm and consumer where bacterial infection can spread, according to Brian Ahmed, president of the Victorian Farmers Federation's egg sector. "[Eggs] should be treated exactly like raw meat," he told the Herald. Typically, eggs become contaminated by salmonella through the feces of birds.

Food poisoning rates have doubled in the past decade in Victoria, with roughly 40 percent of cases believed to be caused by eggs, according to the Daily Mail.

Not all stores are so concerned about the recommendations. Aldi and Coles are holding fast to their right to keep eggs lukewarm.

Although egg refrigeration is the standard in the US, many European countries, including the UK, tend to leave their eggs out as well. This is due to a difference in how eggs are processed between continents; in America, eggs are washed and sprayed with sanitizer as soon as they arrive at their distributor. If they were to be removed from refrigeration at that point, their risk of bacterial growth would increase dramatically as the egg would "sweat" through its shell, similar to how a glass of water forms condensation and becomes wet to the touch.

In contrast, European egg farmers—particularly those in the UK—believe that this washing process might actually transfer salmonella bacteria from the outside of the egg to the inside, due to possible damage that might be caused to the egg shell. Instead, they use different animal husbandry and collecting practices in efforts to prevent salmonella bacteria from remaining on the shell in the first place.

The key is consistency. If egg distributors are keeping their eggs refrigerated, then ideally, the supermarkets they're delivering to should follow suit (at least in principle).

Soon, if the remainder of Australian markets follow suit and make like Americans, young Aussies might feel like us Yankees—wondering how it ever could be that eggs could sit on a shelf next to a box of crackers. In the meantime, we can sit back and watch even consumers and supermarkets alike get egg on their faces while locked in Twitter debate.