This invention relates to a method and apparatus for examining eggs, in particular for determining eggshell characteristics of eggs, the method comprising,-positioning the eggs to be examined,-with a deformer, deforming a part of such an egg at least once,-at least determining deformation contact time, and-determining the shell stiffness and/or the eggshell strength of such an egg. Such a manner of detection can be suitably applied to sorting machines for eggs. With this methodology, in a short time, for a very large number of products, such as eggs in the present case, a quality parameter such as the strength and/or stiffness can be determined. With such determinations, in an advantageous manner, high requirements set in many fields of technology and industry can be met.
