(1331) Fresh Eggs

This morning I noticed trays of eggs being sold in my favourite noodle shop. As I just brought enough money for breakfast, I returned there on my second journey out to buy vegetables.

Apparently those eggs packed in transparent pink cases were from a former rabbit farm in Mile 15. In Malaysia this is a common way referring to places by the distance from a town centre. I bought a pack of ten Grade B eggs at $8.50. Before the COVID pandemic, the rabbit farm was a popular destination for families during week-ends, and school trips on week days. After a few shutdowns lasting many months, the poor owners had to transform their business model to survive during these difficult times.

I am an egg lover. When I could, I actually prefer to buy eggs from dedicated suppliers from wet markets. With the coronavirus lurking in crowded places, I haven't bought anything from any wet market for at least 10 months. So far I have tried supermarkets, minimarkets and a meat shop around my neighbourhood. The best eggs in terms of freshness come from a place called Popular New mini market. The worst was from the meat shop. After a good run of about 3-4 months, I was confident enough to buy a tray of 30 eggs at one go. Sad to say, there were two eggs right in the middle of the tray that was stinky and black.

The very next trip, I complained about the two bad eggs to the cashier. She was apologetic and said to bring it back, they would replace them anytime. But I don't think I want to bag hydrogen sulphide and keep it for days in my kitchen until I do drive to the out-of-the-way shop. It was not her fault, it could have been the packer in the farm, or the repacker in the shop. It was obvious that whoever it was, had purposefully substituted bad eggs among the good ones. It could not have beeen done by mistake. That was my last visit to the shop, and I found an alternative place to shop for meat, so I have been off eggs until I was going to two miles away anyway, to pick up good eggs.

Each egg may cost 55cents, it is not the money I mind losing. It was the shock of breaking an egg that "exploded" and have stinky gas everywhere in a place of food preparation. It was having to deal with the toxic remnant of bad food in my food containers. Perhaps even having to throw away a few good egg mixtures, just because a a few drops of contamination! It is the feeling of being swindled. As a free consumer with a car and lots of free time to shop, I refuse to deal with dishonest merchants who took advantage of customers paying them good money and being inconvenienced with bad eggs.