Why do we refrigerate eggs?

You probably said that Europeans are more likely to purchase food to cook on a daily or weekly basis unlike their American counterparts that do more bulk shopping.  Just look at the size difference in modern refrigerators between European countries and ours in USA.  Perhaps you said that our eggs must travel much farther distances from farm to table than many Europeans countries.  That would also be a great guess!  However, the main reason that the USA stores must keep their eggs refrigerated is because of the commercial industries' practice of washing the eggs with chlorinated water.  In sanitizing the eggs and removing any blemishes for picture perfect eggs in your store cartons, it is removing the protective coating that nature provides the chicken egg called the BLOOM.  In removing the bloom, you are essentially shortening the lifespan of the egg shell.  Once the shell begins to thin and crack, bacteria can enter the eggsheel and cause illness such as Salmonella.  

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Our farm must comply with the rules for refrigeration even though we do NOT remove the bloom from the eggs.  Stressed chickens are more likely to poop on their eggs requiring cleaning.  Our lady hens are free to roam the acreage of the farm, scratch the dirt, search for worms and perch in their favorite tree to sunbathe.  No stress = No poopie eggs = No need to clean!

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Remember that once your eggs are refrigerated they MUST REMAIN refrigerated.  If a cool egg begins to warm up on the counter, it will "sweat" - literally - resulting in the tiny pores of the egg shell to leak.  This is an avenue for bacteria to enter.