With eggs the transport risk starts with sweating, before any cracked tray. A cold egg entering warm air is covered in condensation, and a wet shell makes it easier for bacteria to multiply on the shell and pass inside. The EU's 2008 marketing standard for eggs therefore prefers eggs to be stored and transported at a constant temperature. Article 13 of the Turkish Food Codex Egg Decree says this about transport:
- Eggs are kept clean, dry and free of foreign odours until they reach the consumer, and protected from shocks, direct sunlight and large temperature swings.
- Cooling is not compulsory up to day 18 after laying; from day 18 eggs are kept at +5 to +8 °C.
- Class A eggs are not artificially cooled below +5 °C; during dispatch they may be held below that for no more than 24 hours.
Keeping a chilled lot cold to the end of the road is safer than warming and cooling it on the way. The riskiest minutes are those when the eggs leave the cold store and wait on the ramp. Write the loading and delivery times, the time spent on the ramp and the in-vehicle temperature into the same lot record.