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How long should a person keep eggs past the date on the carton? Are they still safe to eat after a week? Two weeks? Not at all? Not "egg-zactly" sure. — Mary Lou C., via e-mail Not only are eggs safe to eat after a week or two, fresh eggs in their shells can be safely consumed — if kept refrigerated in their carton — at least four to five weeks beyond the package date. That's the official word from Willamette Egg Farms, the Oregon-based company that has a laying house on Highway 62 outside Eagle Point. Its Web site, www.willamette-egg.com, is laden with egg facts. Required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the numbers on an egg carton indicate the contents' packing date. The digits may be a little difficult to decipher, as they run consecutively through the calendar year, with No. 1 representing Jan. 1 through No. 365, representing Dec. 31. If gathered, washed and oiled within a few hours of being laid, most commercially produced eggs reach stores within a few days of leaving the laying house. Ideally, eggs should be stored at 40 F or below and at a relative humidity of 70 to 80 percent. You shouldn't notice a loss in egg quality for weeks after purchase, provided the eggs were refrigerated as quickly as possible, according to Willamette. An egg's appearance does change, though. Its white thins while the yolk flattens. Fresher eggs hold their shape when poached or fried. But hard-cooked eggs that are at least a week old are much easier to peel than fresher eggs — a point to keep in mind when preparing potato salad this summer. Send questions to "Since You Asked, A la carte" Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; e-mail to [email protected]