Improving hygiene in egg grading and packing

摘要

Because eggs are well protected in their shell, health concerns used to be centred around the shell's contents. Today's trend is that the whole egg is considered 'food', even though nobody actually eats the 'package'. Developments in machinery designcan help to maintain egg shell integrity and deliver more healthy eggs. In the past, it was accepted that the outside of a natural product such as an egg shell would contain some irregularities. In some countries this perspective changed and egg washingbecame compulsory, while in other countries it is still forbidden. Concerns over egg contamination sparked further interest in egg shell integrity. Most salmonella contamination in eggs occurs through horizontal transmission, such as when an egg is exposed to contaminated faeces. If eggs are handled by machines, there is a chance that contamination can occur because of dirty machine parts. Over the years, this resulted in extensive cleaning programmes in egg packing stations. In many situations where hygiene is regulated by the government or dictated by retail, many man hours per day are spent on cleaning equipment.