Your sense of smell can help you determine if an egg is fresh or not.

Break the Egg: Break the egg into a clean bowl.
Sniff It: Fresh eggs smell like nothing, but bad eggs have a strong, bad smell like sulfur.
Remember to always wash your hands and the area around them well after touching raw eggs to avoid getting them dirty.

Testing the Shake
Another fast way is the shake test.

Listen to the egg by shaking it gently next to your ear.
Fresh egg: There is hardly any movement or noise inside.
Rotten Egg: Sound of liquid inside.

Why it is effective:

As eggs get older, the yolk and white inside them start to become more watery and less firm, which causes the sloshing noise.

The Candling Test is a method used to check the quality of eggs.
This technique consists of using a light to examine what is inside the egg.

In a dark place, hold the egg up to a strong light or flashlight.
Look inside the egg: Fresh eggs will have a small air pocket, while older eggs will have a bigger air pocket and more noticeable movement inside.
Why it is effective:
This technique, commonly used by farmers, shows the size of the air pocket and the inside of the egg, which both change as the egg gets older.

The Test of Cracking and Checking
This method consists of breaking the egg and looking at what's inside.

Break the egg: Break the egg on a flat surface like a plate.
Look at the egg white and yolk.
A fresh egg has a firm and round yolk, with a thick egg white that stays close to the yolk.
An egg that is older may have a flatter yolk that is more spread out, and the egg white will be thinner and spread over a larger area.
Testing Dates
Egg cartons usually have a date for when they should be sold or used by:

Check the date on the eggs. If they are within the date range, they are probably fresh.
Buffer Zone: Eggs can still be safe to eat for a few weeks after the expiration date if kept in the refrigerator.
Final thoughts
Keeping eggs fresh is very important for cooking well and staying safe. There are different ways to check if an egg is fresh or spoiled, such as the float test, sniff test, shake test, candling test, crack and inspect test, and checking the date. With these easy methods, you can enjoy your eggs without concerns about how fresh they are.