Egg Carton Expiration Dates in Vietnam: How to Read Them

I Thought I Ate Expired Eggs in Vietnam—Here’s What Actually Happened

When I first started living in Da Nang, I freaked out after eating a bunch of soft-boiled eggs I had just made. I glanced at the carton and saw what I thought was the expiration date—it turns out, I had just eaten four eggs that were supposedly two weeks expired.

Panicked, I walked over to the store and said, “Hey, miss, these eggs are expired.”

That’s when I learned the date on the carton wasn’t the expiration date—it was the "birth" date of the eggs. The cashier told me eggs in Vietnam are good for 30 days at room temperature and even longer if refrigerated.

Quick Tips:

• Vietnam uses the DD-MM-YY(YY) date format.

• The printed date on eggs is the "birth" date, not the expiration date.

• Eggs are good for 30 days at room temperature.

• Eggs last months in the fridge.

Lesson learned: Eggs don’t have birthdays, but they do have great life expectancy.

Duch out.