Egg Quality (continued from Page A 1) to calcium. “Any time you alter the diet you can have an effect on egg quality,” he said. “It’s a touchy balance.” Food safety has become a major focus of the NEQS in ad dition to the traditional empha sis on physical factors such as shell strength, shape, cleanli ness, and soundness; as well as quality of the white, visibility of the yoke, and size of the air cell when eggs are viewed with a candling light. NEQS laboratory director and Maryland grader Jim Greer said that egg grading focuses on inte rior and exterior physical quali ties of eggs as opposed to microbiological concerns. At time of laying, most eggs are of AA quality the highest grade, Greer said. After that, the protection of egg quality de pends on how the eggs are han of Health learns candling technique used to examine inte rior physical quality of the egg. 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According to Greer, an older egg is not always a bad thing. “It depends on what you want to do with (it),” he said, pointing out that when hard-boiled, older eggs are easier to shell than fresher eggs. Focusing on the safety of eggs as food, several of the training sessions introduced principles of the USDA’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) program as it could National Egg Quality School (NEQS) laboratory director v Greer, second from left, demonstrates egg candling to Ken Anderson, NEQS director;, nna Baldwin, Maryland program manager for food grading services; Brad Powers, Mat. deputy secretary of agriculture; and Robert Halman, Maryland assistant secretary of agriculture. be applied to the egg industry. Maryland and Pennsylvania already have their own egg qual ity assurance programs in plac£ (MEQAP and PEQAP, respec tively.) According to Dr. Deana Jones of the USDA Agricultural Re search Service, HACCP is al ready being applied to meat and poultry production, but has not yet been mandated for the egg industry. However, in response to market demands such as egg buyers requiring uniform safety standards, some egg production and processing facilities are al ready employing their own pro grams similar to HACCP. Jones said that HACCP is a “self-monitoring, proactive” program for evaluating the pro duction and handling of animal products for human consump tion. The goal is to identify po tential hazards, then apply solutions at “critical control points” to lower the incidence of food safety problems, she said. An example of HACCP in egg production would be the identi fication of an incorrect washing temperature or pH level causing higher than acceptable levels of bacteria. Jones said that HACCP ap plied to eggs will differ from its application to meat and poultry because many of the nation’s eggs are produced and pro cessed at the same site. “With meat and poultry, HACCP starts at the door of the processing plant,” she said. “Eggs are produced at the facil ity (where they are processed.)” In-shell pasteurization of eggs was the topic of another training session offered at NEQS. Deanna Baldwin of the Mary land Department of Agriculture (MDA) food grading service said that in-shell pasteurization uses new technology that heats the egg to just under the tempera ture at which the white coagu lates. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 26,2001-All Intended to increase micro bial safety', pasteurization will likely be applied to certain types of eggs such asthose going for uses that involve little or no cooking, she said. - Baldwin has worked with MEQAP since its stdrj in the early 19905. Essentially identical to PEQAP, Baldwin said that MEQAP “is all about safety” and includes biosecurity, envi ronmental and Salmonella test ing in all stages from egg production through processing. Not a mandatory program, MEQAP involvement is never theless in demand because of competition in the market, Baldwin said. Maryland Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Brad Powers said that egg production has made a solid contribution to the state’s diverse agriculture for years. Compared to other types of production such as dairy, “The egg industry has been more stable in Maryland,” Powers said, pointing out that the last decade has seen relatively little change in the numbers of eggs produced in the state. Including eggs bound for hatcheries, about 900 million shell eggs are produced in Mary land per year, Powers said. 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