Blood spots occur in up to 6% of brown eggs. Some of those spots disappear over time and the rest are removed during the processing stage. The small number that reach the store shelf are a little bit icky to some, but entirely safe and natural. Knowing a little more about why they occur can help ease your concerns when you come across them.
Words by: Family Farm Team
Yep...not the most appetizing sight when you're making breakfast. Nobody likes cracking an egg and seeing anything other than a beautiful, richly colored yolk nestled in a clear egg white. But once you learn a little more about blood spots (and all the other fascinating ins and outs of eggs), you might be a little less grossed out by these rare instances.
Contrary to popular belief, blood spots are not the beginnings of a chick embryo. They're simply the remnants of a ruptured blood vessel that occured during the egg's formation. Most often, the ruptured vessel forms a tiny speck or dot of blood with a dark red, brown, or even black hue. Sometimes, larger vessels burst, and this allows blood to pool throughout the entire egg. In these cases, the egg white may have a pink or red tinge. In either case, these blood spots are a natural part of egg laying. In fact, blood spots indicate a particularly fresh egg because as they age, the spot diffuses into the white and becomes undetectable.
The cause of a blood spot is simply a ruptured blood vessel on the yolk's surface as the egg is forming. This is a natural, benign process for both hen and egg. Instances of blood spots can increase when hens in a flock get excited by changes in lighting, changes in temperature, or simply shifting seasons. So it's okay if it feels a little bit yucky, but know that all is well.
Absolutely – eating an egg that has a blood spot won't hurt you. While you may wish to remove the spot with the tip of a knife and dispose of it, there is nothing in it that's harmful for human consumption.
Since blood spots are a perfectly natural part of the egg laying process, there is no way to prevent this from happening. However, we do have state-of-the-art processing equipment that helps us detect eggs with imperfections and filter them out before they ever make their way into our packaging—be they slightly cracked, misshapen, or containing other slight imperfections.
In fact, 99% of Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs reach the store in perfect condition. We find almost everything. But no process is perfect, and there will always be the very occassional feather on an egg, hairline crack, or blood spot that makes its way past the machines' and our keen eyes.
Our eggs are certified kosher by the OU, but things get a little tricky on the rare occasion of blood or a blood spot making it into a carton. According to the OU, eggs with blood or blood spots in them are not considered kosher.
December 11, 2021
I just came across this when I searched to see why our chickens are laying more eggs with blood spot. Thank you for explaining so well. Our temperatures just changed from warm to cold, along with the shortened daylight hours. Buying from a store and getting an egg with a blood spot in it isn’t new, and it most certainly isn’t just your company that has that happened, so I’m not sure why some people are having such attitude towards you? Maybe they just want the offer of free eggs? Whatever their problem, I’m thankful to find out that my hens aren’t suffering from anything more than change in seasons.
1 Reply
December 13, 2021
Hi Lisa! We are glad to have provided this helpful information to you! Good luck with your hens in the future!
January 01, 2021
I don't buy your eggs. Nothing against your farm or company, I've just never seen your brand here and I've been buying local eggs, for the most part. I've noticed an increase in eggs with blood spots, specifically in brown cage free eggs. They don't bother me at all. However, I was wondering about when an egg looks straight up bloody. I haven't got one in awhile but I would like to know if they are still safe to eat or not since I usually toss them.
January 04, 2021
Hi Nicole, Eggs that are pooled with blood can happen sometimes but are fairly rare. We recommend if a consumer comes across more than just a blood spot to discard the egg.
December 30, 2020
Hi. I came across your article and found it very informative. I don't buy eggs because I have my own flock of hens. Sometimes I find blood spots in my girls eggs. It doesn't gross me out. I use a bit of egg shell to remove it before cooking. Now I know why it happens.
December 31, 2020
Hey Teresa, We are so glad we were able to eggucate you on this topic!
November 25, 2020
My whole egg was red I removed it from my corn bread mixture is it good to eat my cornbread
November 30, 2020
Hi Joyce, we are so sorry to hear you had a bloody egg in a recent carton of ours. While not very appetizing to see, eggs with blood spots are still safe to eat. It sounds like this egg had more than just a speck and we would like to make this right by replacing these eggs for you. If you wouldn't mind sending us an email at [email protected] we would love to take down some more information from you so we can log this with our Quality Assurance team.
November 15, 2020
I've had quite a few eggs recently with blood spots. Thia carton- at least 5 and a few from another carton. I have been wondering what is going on, but glad to find your article about it. I only buy your eggs and have been for over a year. I've never really had any issues with blood spots until now.
November 16, 2020
Hi Arianne, we are so sorry to hear you've had more blood spots in your eggs recently and are glad you found this article to be helpful. Even though this is something that occurs naturally and is difficult for us to prevent, we do like to know of these occurrences and would like to make things right. If you still happen to have the latest carton on-hand we'd love it if you would send us a picture of the front of the carton as well as the side where the expiration date is found so we can log this with our quality assurance team and get you a replacement coupon.
September 09, 2020
I had 3 eggs with blood the last dozen I bought. No matter what, it grosses me out. I threw out the rest. No more Pete and Gerry's for me!
September 10, 2020
Hi Beverly, we are so sorry to hear you had this experience with our eggs. This certainly isn't typical to find in our cartons and we want to make it right. If you wouldn't mind sending us an email at [email protected] with carton information (size of carton, size of eggs, Best By date and other information stamped near date), that will help us get to the bottom of why these eggs slipped through the cracks. We hope you will give our eggs another try!
August 23, 2020
I cracked open a Pete and Gerry’s organic eggs this morning and it was not blood spots but total liquid blood in the egg. I have never seen anything like this before. Has anyone else ever had this experience. Obviously I threw out the eggs and will probably not be eating eggs anytime soon.
August 24, 2020
Hey Dianne, We are sorry for this unfortunate experience. If you don't mind emailing us at [email protected] or calling us at 1-800-210-6657, we would like to track down that batch, and resolve this issue! Thanks for being loyal to small family farms!
August 08, 2020
I've found blood in every carton of eggs I've bought [you would think I'd change brands by now]; it's like I'm paying for a half dozen eggs. Yesterday in the middle of making cookies even though I cracked egg into separate bowl, when it went into the batter there were 4 egg spots on the yolk; i tried to remove but it kept slipping away. I used them but can't get picture of egg spots out of my head so I now am throwing away the cookies, buying another brand of eggs and remaking the "homemade" cookies.
August 10, 2020
Hi Roseane. We are so sorry to hear this. While blood spots are completely natural and these eggs are safe to eat, we do understand how unappetizing that can be and candle our eggs to try and prevent such eggs from going to your store. We would like to make this right by sending some coupons to replace those eggs and help make up for the ingredients lost. If interested, please email us at [email protected] and we'd be happy to work with you on this.
August 07, 2020
Hi There- I was a huge fan of your eggs however the past three dozen I purchased had a ton of eggs with blood spots. I have been throwing out at least half, if not more than half the eggs due to blood spots. Your website states that most of the eggs with spots are filtered out however this does not seem to be the case.
Hi Lauren, we appreciate you bringing this to our attention and would like to address this and make it right by replacing those eggs you've lost. Please send an email to [email protected] and we'd be happy to look into this further.
June 07, 2020
We've unfortunately had the experience where more than 3/4 of our eggs have had these spots. I've given up on the free range egg brands at the store at this point since this has become a common occurrence and it's annoying to pick these out all the time. Oddly, getting cage-free eggs, I've had much better luck with.
June 08, 2020
Hi Amy, we are so sorry to hear this and want to assure you this isn't usually typical of our eggs. If you still happen to have one of our cartons that you found this to be true of, we would greatly appreciate you sending us an email at [email protected] with the 'use by' date and other letters and numbers on the side of the carton so we can look further into it.
May 24, 2020
Hi, there was blood in the egg we cracked today, and it was not a spot, it was fluid blood in the egg white. It never happened before..is it normal or safe? Thank you
May 26, 2020
Hi Valerie, we're so sorry to hear that you got an egg that was bloody on the inside. This is caused by a ruptured blood vessel when the egg was forming. We can certainly understand how unappetizing that might be and hope that you'll send us an email at [email protected] so we can get some more information about this carton from you and replace these eggs.
May 18, 2020
I don't think I would call my experience this morning a blood spot, I have seen them many times. The egg white of my egg was bloody to the point the yolk looked like it was floating in blood.
May 19, 2020
Hi Laura, we are so sorry to hear you had such a negative experience this morning. It sounds like this was a full on bloody egg, which certainly isn't typical of our eggs and we would like to look into it and replace these eggs for you. Would you mind sending an email to [email protected] so we can get a little more information from you and get some coupons sent your way? We greatly appreciate your help with this matter.
April 26, 2020
What does it mean when at least half of the egg is red not just a little spot
April 27, 2020
Hi William, we're so sorry to hear that you may have received an egg that was bloody on the inside. This is caused by a ruptured blood vessel when the egg was forming. We can certainly understand how unappetizing that might be and hope that you'll send us an email at [email protected] so we can get some more information about this carton from you.
February 26, 2020
Its not you brand in specific, but every egg ive eaten for the past year + has blood in it. EVERY EGG. Hard boil an egg, break it in half, remove yolks carefully and there will always be blood spots all over where the yolks touched. Almost always accompanied by a 'bb' or pea sized blood clot in the egg white, usually next to the white string thing (sorry dont know terminology). I grew up eating eggs almost everyday and maybe recall seeing blood once or twice. I eat a half a dozen everyday now and everyone needs to be picked through before eating, or i see the blood all in the whites while im eating my mashed hard boiled eggs.
2 Replies
April 13, 2020
Thanks, good to know I'm not alone
We're so sorry to hear about these unfortunate experiences with blood spots in eggs, Richard. If you have any carton information for any of our Pete and Gerry's organic eggs that had several meat spots, we'd certainly like to get that information and look into this further. Please feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] and we can look into this!
Done, Thanks for the quick response. It is very helpful. I will just remove the "spots" whenever possible. However I will also take pics when it happens and send to you just in case it is something else. Thank you
Sounds like a plan, Richard. Thanks for keeping in touch with us!
The egg had red blood (not just blood spot) in it. Smells fine...but I've never seen an egg with actual blood around the yolk. I was going to make egg dumplings. I had five eggs in the bowl, when this happened. I quickly scooped it out of the others, and threw it down the drain. Don't know whether to just dump them all, or proceed.
Hi Marte, we're so sorry to hear you've experienced such an unpleasant egg. We'd really like to gather a few details and get to the bottom of what might be happening with this egg - if you can shoot us an email at [email protected] we'd be happy to chat further.
January 15, 2020
I bought two dozen of your eggs and all but a few in each carton had blood spots. Very unappetizing, not happy with your product.
Hi Kerrie. Thank you for reaching out to us. We're so sorry to hear that you received some eggs with blood spots. Due to shell color, depth and contrast, some eggs may occasionally get thru despite our best efforts. We would be glad to look into this further if you would not mind sending us an email to: [email protected] Thank you!
June 30, 2019
What if it is the whole egg white filled with blood?
July 01, 2019
Hi Alicia, we're so sorry to hear that you may have received an egg that was bloody on the inside. This is caused by a ruptured blood vessel when the egg was forming. We can certainly understand how unappetizing that might be. We hope that you'll send us an email at [email protected] We would love to get some more information about this carton if you might have it.
June 29, 2019
Hi, I tried your eggs for the first time recently and was really impressed with their taste and the vivid orange yolk, so I bought another carton. But then I realized four out of the two dozen had blood spots. I threw them out and we were left without eggs for that week. It's a shame there's no way to screen for blood spots, since the eggs were so much better than our usual store brand.
Hi Ruth, thank you for reaching out to us. We're sorry to hear that some of your eggs were unfit to enjoy due to blood spots. We'd be happy to replace those eggs for you and would love to get any carton information that you may have. Would you mind sending us an email to: [email protected] ? Thanks!
March 09, 2019
Maybe I'm the exception since we raised a few chickens when I was a kid, but blood spots don't bother me in the least. I've never seen them so big that I feel the need to pick them out. They're natural, and learning they're an indication of freshness, now I even like them!
March 11, 2019
What a refreshing perspective, Beth! We completely agree - though they may be considered imperfections, there are some pretty cool things to learn about blood spots.
February 21, 2019
I get a minimum of 2 eggs with blood spots in every dozen of your eggs? In fact, the latest dozen has had 2 out of the first 5 with blood spots. Additionally, one of the eggs had 4 very large spots with one being 3/16 inch in diameter. Are you scanning the eggs? I try to avoid buying your eggs but my wife, when she shops, will sometimes buy your eggs...sometimes the only eggs available.
February 22, 2019
Hi Rick, we're so sorry to hear about this. Yes, we do our best to catch eggs with blood in them through candling methods, but it can be difficult to catch all spots purely through technological means. We're sorry to hear about your negative experience and hope that you'll send us an email at [email protected] We want to help make this right!
January 21, 2019
Found lots of blood in 1 egg this morning. Had to throw the whole batch out. Not very appetizing.😕
We're so sorry to hear this, JoAnn. Do you mind sending us an email at [email protected] so that we can replace the carton for you?
March 08, 2016
April 22, 2020
