DETERMINATION OF SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF SHELL-EGGS BY USING INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY DURING INFRARED SURFACE DECONTAMINATION PROCESS

摘要

The interior of the eggs obtained from healthy hens might be accepted to be free of microorganisms while the outer shell surface might include various microorganisms including pathogens. These microorganisms might pass through micro-cracks in the shell, or egg constituents might be contaminated while the shells are broken by accident or for process related purposes. These cause high microbial risk. Various surface decontamination techniques for shell eggs are applied, and thermal techniques have a certain limitation not to affect the functional properties of egg constituents especially egg white. Infrared application for surface decontamination is one suggested industrial application, and like all the other thermal methods, surface temperature of the shell should not exceed a certain value and must be determined in a quick and accurate manner. Thermocouple measurements bring certain difficulty for surface temperature determination. Hence, use of more convenient methods is required. Therefore, in this study, an infrared thermography method was improved for surface temperature measurement of the eggs undergoing an infrared surface decontamination process.