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Two weeks ago, I stored around 20 eggs in a pot and sealed it (that was wrapped inside clean closed trash bag) for storing them safely and placing in the fridge (which I forgot to do...). The eggs were clean prior to storing them in the pot.

Today I opened it and found to my great horror worms swarming all over the pot.

By the design of this accidental experiment, they didn't come from the environment outside the bag, so how did they get there?

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closed as off-topic by Catija♦, Debbie M., Ward, Erica, moscafj Jul 12 '17 at 0:55

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    How are we supposed to know? – Jan Doggen Jul 6 '17 at 7:55
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because while this question pertains to food, it isn't about cooking. – Catija♦ Jul 6 '17 at 13:59
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    To expand on my close reason. You don't seem to be asking whether your eggs are safe to eat. On the surface, it seems that you're merely interested in understanding the mystery of where the worms came from... which isn't really something we have any way of solving and isn't related to our site's topic. – Catija♦ Jul 6 '17 at 15:06
  • I'd like to know if they can be eaten. This egg broke inside the container and when I saw there were maggots all over the nearest eggs. I threw the broken egg away and washed the remaining ones, but I'm not sure if they can be eaten. – vhcandido Jan 19 at 20:33
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Are you talking about raw clean eggs or boiled clean eggs? Were there worms crawling inside the pot on the eggs? Are these 'worms' maggots or what?

Since there's no such thing as spontaneous generation of life, I can think of a few explanations. The rotting eggs would give off a smell that you might miss until close but carrion insects have an extremely sensitive sense of smell. You would know best which fits.

  1. There may have been insect eggs either on the pot and lid or inside the garbage bag (maybe when you shook it open, small airborne eggs were added). They could be small enough for you to miss.

  2. When you sealed the bag, a tiny fly species got in. If you put boiled eggs in the pot, the smell of the eggs would be enough to attract some insect's attention.

  3. The bag wasn't sealed air-tight (or there's a small tear in the bag you didn't notice) and a tiny fly species got in and then got busy laying eggs as close to the scent of food as it could.

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    In addition to what you said, the insect eggs wouldn't have grown into maggots and be swarming all over unless they had something to eat. There must be some food source in the bag/pot, like a broken egg. – Ross Ridge Jul 6 '17 at 5:37

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