Effect of Various Shell Treatments on Interior Quality Factors and Microbial Load of Shell Eggs

Authors: Hülya KAHRAMAN DOĞAN, Levent BAYINDIRLI

Abstract: A comparative study was conducted to investigate the effects of washing, sanitizing and thermostabilization on the interior quality characteristics and microbial load of chicken eggs. The quality characteristics analyzed are as follows: Albumen height, albumen index, yolk height, yolk index, USDA chart score and Haugh unit. The results indicated that the stabilization of egg albumen by heat treatment has a significantly important effect in preserving egg quality. The result of interior quality measurements showed that thermostabilization extended the shelf life and retained 'AA' quality even after seven weeks of storage at room temperature. Moreover, sanitation and thermo-stabilization were highly effective in reducing bacterial load on the egg shell, thus the mean counts of these eggs were significantly lower than control and washed group.

Keywords: Shell-egg, Egg quality, Shell treatments