Russian scientists have created a safe and inexpensive technology to disinfect the surfaces of packed eggs. The novel technology destroys bacteria on the surfaces of eggshells and ensures broiler chickens are grown with optimal immunity to viral diseases. Their technology is published in Food and Bioproducts Processing.
"Disinfection of the packed eggs protects eggs from subsequent contamination during storage", stated Sergey Sokovnin, a professor at Ural Federal University and Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Science. He continued, "We found out that 5 kGy is enough for disinfection. Such dose allows to disinfect container and eggshells but does not affect the physical properties of the protein, yolk, and shell, or their composition. The size of the eggs does not matter."
Another benefit of the disinfection technology is that it does not affect the quality of meat and the volume of chicks. Additionally, industrial manufacturers will save significant time because hatching chickens from clean eggs takes about six hours less. The new technology utilizes electron irradiation on the eggshell only, with an absorbed dose level of 5 kGy is sufficient for the full disinfection of the surface of an egg.
Image credit: Jakub Kapusnak