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Poultry egg quality
Egg quality defines those characteristics of an egg that affect consumer acceptability and preference. Components of quality include shell quality and interior egg quality for shell eggs, and interior egg quality for further processed eggs. The quality of the egg once it is laid cannot be improved. Hence, its maintenance is mostly a preventive process. Egg quality is influenced by several factors including rearing, temperature, humidity, handling, storage, and egg age. Shell quality: There are five major classes of shell defects: integrity, texture, shape, color, and cleanliness. Internal egg quality involves functional, aesthetic and microbiological properties of the egg yolk and albumen. The proportions of components for fresh egg are 32% yolk, 58% albumen and 10% shell. Regarding exterior egg quality, the shell of each egg should be smooth, clean and free of cracks. The eggs should be uniform in colour, size and shape.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a regulation that aims at reducing the number of illnesses caused by eggs contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis (SE).
The regulation, released to the public on 7 July, 2009, requires the egg industry to take specific preventive measures to keep eggs safe during their production, storage and transport. Egg producers will also be required to register with...
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Detailed information describing the categorization and incidence of embryo malpositions and deformities in commercial poultry is not readily available. Additionally, there is often little consistency in these data among hatcheries. Any decrease in the number of usable chicks may result in substantial economic loss to poultry integrations. In a typical hatch, it is common to lose about 1-2% of the chicks due to deformities and malpositions. Deformities manifest...
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Researchers at ARS's Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, have filed a patent on technology that can further protect pasteurized liquid eggs from food safety threats. These threats include both naturally occurring spoilage bacteria and pathogens such as Salmonella enteritidis, the primary cause of egg-related foodborne illness in the United States. The technology has also been successfully applied to milk.
But don't go running...
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Good news for fans of raw cookie dough: Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have filed a patent on technology that can protect pasteurized liquid eggs from food safety threats.
These threats include both naturally-occurring spoilage bacteria and pathogens. But don't go running for that dough just yet; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration still cautions against consuming raw, unpasteurized eggs or products that contain them.
The new technology was developed by...
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Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have uncovered genetic evidence about the evolutionary path that transformed Salmonella enteritidis from an innocuous bacterium into a virulent pathogen.
S. enteritidis , like many bacteria, reproduces very quickly--every 20 minutes in optimal conditions, according to veterinary medical officer Jean Guard-Bouldin in the ARS Egg Safety and Quality Research Unit in Athens, Ga. "To reduce current levels of...
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Layer producers looking for lower feed costs with higher fibre feed ingredients can use the latest developments in enzyme technology from Danisco Animal Nutrition.
Layer producers looking for lower feed costs with higher fibre feed ingredients can use the latest developments in enzyme technology, reported Dr Yingjun Ru at the VIV Asia Eggs conference, Thailand, Bangkok, 12 March 2009. Using a carefully selected balance of xylanase, amylase, protease and...
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The development of the embryo is determined by the temperature inside the shell, the embryo temperature. This temperature will dictate the development, but with that also the hatchability and the quality of the day-old chick.
It is often assumed that this temperature is fully dependent on the temperature of the air. Although air temperature has a large influence on it, it is not the only factor and in some situations not even the most important factor to consider.
We want to...
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Clearly hatchability is important to both small flock and commercial poultry breeder flock owners. Maintaining hatching egg shell quality is important because of its connection with hatchability. The major factors that influence egg shell quality are genetics, diet, climate, housing and age of the hens. While the average poultry operation has limited control over most of these factors, the crucial significance of hatchability makes it is important to recognize and control egg shell quality...
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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Feed Solutions Increase Sustainability
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A prototype pressure chamber and camera system that finds very small cracks, called microcracks, in fresh eggshells has been developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists.
The device could help the fresh egg industry find microcracks that can often go undetected during grading, according to scientists at the agency's Egg Safety and Quality Research Unit (ESQRU) and Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit (QSARU), both in Athens, Ga. The ARS team that...
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Eggs provide affordable source of high-quality protein for sustained energy
A research review published recently in Nutrition Today (1) affirms that the high-quality protein in eggs makes a valuable contribution to muscle strength, provides a source of sustained energy and promotes satiety. High-quality protein is an important nutrient for active individuals at all life stages, and while most Americans consume the recommended dietary allowance (RDA)...
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Avian gut health and physiological changes in the host - Michael Kogut
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Hatching eggs laid on the floor or slats of the breeder house can present a significant problem for the hatching egg producer as well as the integrator. Most eggs laid on the floor or slats are unacceptable as hatching eggs because of the increased likelihood of being cracked and/or contaminated. Unfortunately, often these eggs are, at most, gently wiped off and placed with nest clean eggs in the egg cooler. Once delivered to the hatchery, it only takes a small few contaminated eggs placed...
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Eggs contribute insignificant risk to heart disease.
Park Ridge, Ill. (December 16, 2008) - A study recently published online in the journal Risk Analysis (1) estimates that eating one egg per day is responsible for less than 1 percent of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy adults. Alternatively, lifestyle factors including poor diet, smoking, obesity and physical inactivity contribute 30 to 40 percent of heart disease risk, depending...
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The first documented report of shell pigment loss in brown-shelled eggs was in 1944 when Steggerda and Hollander, while removing dirt from eggshells produced from a small flock of Rhode Island Red hens, made the surprising discovery that some of the brown pigment also rubbed off. This effect was even more evident when the eggs were rubbed vigorously. Most of the eggs gave up their pigment fairly easily except those possessing a glossy surface.
It is well established that no single...
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The Salmonella enteritidis (SE) pilot project (Schlosser et al. 1995) showed that the risk of eggs being contaminated with SE could be reduced by proper house cleanout and disinfection, rodent control, biosecurity, and by housing SE-free chicks and pullets. As a result, the focus for SE risk reduction in the commercial egg industry has been on adoption of voluntary egg quality assurance (QA) programs (e.g. the Pennsylvania and California Egg Quality Assurance Programs, and others modeled after...
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It is commonly assumed in the egg industry that increases in egg size cause the decline in shell thickness observed as laying hens grow older. To test this belief, a study of the effect of breed, hen age and egg size on shell quality was recently completed at the University of Manitoba. The research was conducted by Wm. Guenter, A. Golian and C.Bennett. In the study, egg weight and specific gravity were determined once every ten weeks for all of the eggs laid by 1,200 hens. Eggs were...
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It is well understood that a hen must eat a proper amount of energy, protein, and calcium in a balanced ration to produce eggs of optimum size and good shell quality. It is also well known that excessive heat during summer results in small eggs or eggs with poor shell quality. High environmental temperature reduces a hen’s appetite. Within limits, it is possible to reformulate feed to provide adequate protein and calcium at reduced feed consumption rates. However, if the hen house environment...
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The benefits of adding enzymes to better utilize b-glucans by poultry was first observed in the early 1960s (Leslie, 1995). In 1971 Nelson et al. demonstrated the beneficial effect on phosphorus availability of adding phytase to broiler diets. However, it took nearly 20 years before phytase production became economically feasible (van der Klis et al., 1997). Only in recent years has the use of exogenous enzymes to increase phosphorus, protein or energy digestibility of poultry feeds gotten...
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Osteoporosis, cage layer fatigue and poor shell quality have a common cause, i.e., insufficient available calcium for the support of bone metabolism or egg shell deposition. Osteoporosis is a condition in which the structural components of bones become abnormally thin. Osteoporosis can result in excessive bone breakage when spent cage layer flocks are caught and processed. Hens with cage layer fatigue have trouble standing and typically crouch or lie at the back of the cage. Severely affected...
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In its constant search to improve the quality of food, DSM Nutritional Products presents an innovation that once again brings added value for all those involved in the poultry industry. This innovation is intended for CAROPHYLL® users and aims to assure a reliable color for egg-based products. The use of egg products in foodstuffs is increasing steadily, particularly in Europe. This increase can be attributed to the use of egg yolk in products which make up consumers’ every-day...
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Although there have been great improvements in the breeder house, egg transportation and the hatchery, on-farm hatching egg storage has been largely ignored. The lack of improvement might be traced to a lack of information about the optimum environment to maintain viability of hatching eggs stored at the farm level. Meeting chick placement needs and ensuring the full utilization of incubation equipment have made hatching egg storage inevitable in the commercial broiler industry. While...
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