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. Tells I guess about the natural capacity for chicken eggs to preserve themselves.
Yes. That is if the eggs are unwashed. But getting unwashed eggs is the dilemma.
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Commercial eggs are all power-washed. Some people say unwashed eggs (if produced under hygenic, polyculture conditions like you find in small farms) are better because they naturally contain an invisible membrane on the outside of the egg that seals in air and keeps out bacteria. This is what supposedly allows you to keep them unrefrigerated. Washing eggs removes this natural membrane, and commercial producers have to spray the eggs with a substitute sealant. Of course, that artificial sealant isn't as effective as nature's, so here in the US, unrefrigerated eggs spoil very quickly.
Under the right conditions, power washing is unnecessary. Joel Salatin, the exalted farmer in Omnivore's Dilemma, says in this article that accredited labs can't find even a trace of salmonella in his unwashed eggs or in the chicken manure.
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