Egg washing and disinfection process

Details Egg washing and disinfection process Egg washing and disinfection process

1996-01-26

1998-05-26

Cano, Milton

Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products

Treating unshelled egg

426300, 426302, 426335, 426442, 426532, 422 28, A23B 508

Patent

active

057561397

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention concerns a process for washing and disinfecting eggs.
In recent years, there has been increasing public concern over the bacterial contamination of certain foodstuffs, and particularly in the case of hens eggs. Because of the conditions under which a large proportion of eggs is produced, the eggs are often contaminated with dirt including faecal matter debris from broken eggs and feathers. This contamination can provide a breeding ground for bacteria, and because of the nature of the egg shell, these bacteria can penetrate through the shell and can contaminate the internal membranes of the eggs. This has caused concern in the case of eggs for human consumption and also in the case of breeder eggs, where it is desired to reduce the exposure of chicks to the risk of infection. There is particular concern in the case of enterobacteriaceae because members of this family are intestinal parasites and common causes of ill health, including food-related diseases. The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food have a separate standard for numbers of enterobacteriaceae in addition to the standard for total bacterial numbers. Contaminated eggs are also less likely to be accepted by consumers for aesthetic reasons and also because the contamination may mask faults, e.g. cracks in the egg shell. It is therefore desirable that the eggs should be washed and/or disinfected to reduce the chances of contamination of the internal membranes and to increase their acceptability to consumers.
The nature both of the contamination and of the egg shell itself pose particular problems for the washing and disinfection of eggs. In many cases, the contamination has dried on to the shell to a substantial degree and cannot easily be rinsed away. The removal of the contamination therefore often requires the use of cleaning agents. However, the porous nature of the egg shell is such that the internal membranes of the shell may be damaged by contact with too aggressive a washing/disinfection agent. It is therefore expedient that a washing/disinfection system is identified that is sufficiently aggressive to be able to cope with the extent of contamination, but which is compatible with the internal membranes of the eggs.
East German Patent No 281119 teaches a nonionic and anionic surfactant system with an alkaline solution of a peracid that can be used for the washing of conveyor belts for eggs during its maintenance period but does not teach that this system is compatible with the internal membranes of eggs. The constraints upon materials suitable for disinfecting hard surfaces such as conveyor belts are markedly different from those applying to porous surfaces bounded by a membrane.
European Patent Application No 0 388 071 teaches the use of a combination of detergent plus bactericide for the washing of eggs but does not provide any further teaching as to the nature of such systems.
W. A. Moats in the Journal of Food Protection, 1978, Vol 41 No. 11 pp 919-925 reviews the factors involved in egg washing. Chlorine based disinfectants are stated to suffer from a rapid loss of activity caused by the soiling of the eggs. The use of quaternary ammonium salt disinfectants is the most favoured, but even with these, the results are stated to be variable. The use of quaternary ammonium salt disinfectants is now under pressure as a result of their generally poor biodegradability.
Hartmann and Carlin in Research Notes, 1957, pp 673-675 discuss the use of peracetic acid for the disinfection of eggs. A contact time of at least one minute is stated to be required, but in the presence of egg solids, significantly longer contact times, up to 4 minutes, are needed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the washing and/or disinfection of eggs that is compatible with the internal membranes of the eggs.
It is a further object of certain embodiments of the present invention to provide a process for the washing and/or disinfection of eggs that overcomes or ameliorates at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art p

REFERENCES:
patent: 3968250 (1976-07-01), Boucher
patent: 5545374 (1996-08-01), French et al.
Derwent abstract No. 74-28327V of Japanese Patent No. 49011722, Mar. 1974.
Derwent abstract No. 74-28328v of Japanese Patent No. 49011723, Mar. 1974.
Cihova, H. et al., "Decontamination of heg eggs by peracetic acid", Cesk. Hyg., pp. 249-256, (1990), Chemica abstract No. 30821p, vol. 74 (7), p. 30819, Feb. 1971.

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