Picture of the Day: Precious Cargo

In all my time here in Beijing, I can't understand why grocery stores and supermarkets don't refrigerate their eggs.

During the summer and winter, they just leave them out on the shelf at room temperature. Isn't this bad food safety-wise?

Regardless, the deluxe eggs are nicely packaged in cardboard cartons, which we take for granted at home. These are a bit more expensive, because you are partially paying for the pressed cardboard and the insurance that these eggs will pretty much make it back home in one piece.

But for those who want no-frill eggs, there's the option of buying them in plastic bags, the same ones used to hold fruits and vegetables. A shop assistant will either bag new ones for you, or you can take ones already bagged from a selection in a crate.

While these are much cheaper, there is the off chance that one (or more) will get crushed on the way home as you can see in the picture above.

This is why I save my old cartons to transfer these loose eggs and of course they go straight into the refrigerator.