How to Check If Eggs Are Fresh? FSSAI’s Simple Water Test You Can Do in Seconds

Worried about “plastic eggs” or stale eggs? Learn what FSSAI guidance says about checking egg freshness and how a simple water test can help you assess whether eggs are fresh at home.

People often feel confused about the eggs they buy from the market. The fear of plastic eggs is troubling many consumers right now. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has shared a very useful trick to clear this confusion. You can easily check if your egg is fresh or old right in your kitchen using this simple test.

Do the water test at home to check egg freshness

FSSAI recommends an old but highly effective method to check the reality of your eggs. People call this the water test. You do not need any fancy scientific tools for this. You just take a deep bowl or a glass and fill it with water. You then drop the egg into the water and watch what happens.

Fresh egg: The egg will go straight to the bottom of the bowl and rest there comfortably if it is completely fresh and safe to eat.

Old egg: The egg might start floating on top or stand straight up in the water if it is old or kept for a long time.

Is it a fake egg if the yolk and egg white mix?

A big rumor is spreading on social media these days. The rumor claims that an egg is made of plastic if the yellow yolk and the white part mix together the moment you break it. FSSAI has completely rejected this claim and called it baseless.

The internal structure and thickness of the egg actually start becoming weak as the egg gets older. The yolk and the white part mix easily with each other because of this reason. This is just a natural aging process of the egg. It definitely does not mean the egg is fake or made of plastic.

Why do eggs dry up inside and float on water?

The outer shell of an egg looks very hard to us. But it actually has many tiny pores. The moisture inside the egg slowly evaporates through these small holes as time passes. Air enters the egg and takes up that empty space. This air bubble keeps getting bigger inside the egg. The egg becomes light and starts floating on water because of this air. You might also find the egg looking dry from the inside when you break a very old egg for the same reason.

You do not need to panic the next time you see a scary video about plastic eggs on social media. You can just take a glass of water and test the eggs yourself at home.