Yes, it was a thing since Early Access and up until post-launch 30th of November 2023, then
Update #5 introduced the universal Camp Chest as we know it today.
So it would seem I was wrong and they changed how it worked in that patch.
It, however, still doesn't prevent options for ensuring that the thing cannot be randomly consumed - Such as dropping it on the ground next to a fast travel location (Allowing you to easily teleport back to it to pick it up). Given that loot doesn't despawn in the game and there's no lockout prohibiting you from travelling back to anywhere in the Wilderness until after the Shadow-Cursed Lands. With such an action not being a unique solution (For example, you can meta game Gerringothe Thorm in a similar fashion, by dumping your gold into a random chest so her attack that deals damage based on your held gold doesn't do anything)
The main issue here is not that the item has other (Arguably) less valuable uses, but that it can randomly be consumed without player input.
Simply making it low priority for random selection when it comes to food, so that it is only used if a player has no other alternatives (Which, personally, has been my experience with it. But who knows, maybe patch 6/7 broke it and I simply haven't played enough runs since then to have noticed)
Since options like selling it or eating it can be valuable to some players (Not everyone loots tons of food or makes lots of gold and might find eating/selling the egg useful and/or players might decide to just give Lady Esther the Gith Egg anyway) and completely locking out these possibilities is unnecessary when it can simply be made less likely to be randomly consumed.
