re: How do restaurants get away with not refrigerating ketchup?

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If eggs aren’t stored or shipped cold, they don’t need to be refrigerated either.

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True, but it's kind of a roundabout reason. Refrigeration isn't required fresh out of the hen, but refrigeration requires more refrigeration.

In the US, you'll never see factory farmed commercial eggs non-refrigerated since the USDA requires washing to combat salmonella. In the US, we don't vaccinate laying hens against salmonella, so the outside of the egg can pick up salmonella from the hen. The washing gets rid of the salmonella, but it also destroys a thin protective layer on the outside of the egg that serves to make it non-porous. Now the egg is salmonella free, but other opportunistic bacteria can get in. So, refrigeration is required to keep any opportunistic bacteria at bay. It also doubles the shelf life of the eggs over a non-refrigerated egg.

If you get your eggs from your own chickens or a friend that has chickens or you are in Europe (where they typically DO vaccinate their laying hens against salmonella), they haven't been subjected to the washing process. The protective layer is still intact and they will keep for weeks without refrigeration, just like they would if they were in a nest with a hen sitting on them. Refrigeration will still extend their shelf life, it just isn't required to prevent opportunistic bacteria from colonizing your eggs because your eggs will protect themselves.

Washed or non-washed, though, refrigerated eggs must remain refrigerated because they'll sweat like a glass of ice water in warmer air. If you don't use them immediately and let them sit, they can start growing mold or mildew, and that's not Good Eats.