Sanitary Processing of Egg Products

Abstract

The egg products industry has gone through dramatic changes in recent years as influenced by regulations requiring pasteurization of egg products, mandatory USDA inspection, establishment of E-3-A Standards for equipment, and tight customer specifications. Quality control for egg products includes: (a) procurement of good raw materials, (b) use of adequate pasteurization, processing and sanitary procedures, (c) microbiological testing, including Salmonella and (d) safeguards against recontamination. Pasteurization methods have been developed which substantially reduce the hazard of potential pathogens and still retain the heat-sensitive properties of the raw egg. Present egg products have very good functional and microbiological quality.