Friday, June 03, 2005

Blood Spots on Eggs (an indication of freshness)

Blood spots are also called meat spots and sometimes found on an egg yolk. Contrary to popular opinion these spots do not indicate a fertilized egg. They are caused by the rupture of a blood vessle on the yolk surface during egg formation, or a similar accident in the wall of the oviduct. Only about 1% of all eggs produced will have this blood spot.

As an egg ages, the yolk draws water from the albument to dilute the blood spot. So a blood spot actually indicates that the egg is fresh! This is the reason that farm fresh eggs tend to have more blood spots - they are fresher than store bought. The eggs are fine to eat, in fact they are chemically and nutritionally quite good.

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