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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dled and stored. Cartoned eggs
sold in Maryland grocery stores
must be Grade A quality or
higher.
Using a small laboratory ver
sion of a candling light, Greer
demonstrated how candling is
used to examine the interior
physical quality of eggs, showing
how with increasing age the yolk
becomes more visible and the air
cell within the egg grows larger,
aging signs that lower the grade
from AA through A then B qual
ity. Candling also reveals blood
spots inside the egg that reduce
grade quality.
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.
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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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