Shelf Stable Egg-Based Products Processed By Ultra High Pressure Technology

摘要

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are in search of more satisfactory shelf stable, egg-based breakfast entry for group or individual military rations. The provision of combat ration egg products with a fresh, familiar home-style taste, especially as breakfast food, has been a significant challenge for the military, as commercial retort processing typically results in foods with undesirable flavors, greenish-grey discoloration, and detrimental changes in texture and syneresis. In this project, High Pressure Thermal Sterilization (HP/TS), also known as pressure assisted thermal processing (PATP), is presented as an alternative to commercial sterilization techniques, as a promising approach to providing commercially sterile precooked egg products that can be stored at room temperature. The team focused on identifying the effect of HP/TS conditions on commercial and modified egg patty formulations. Two processing strategies were initially proposed for egg-based product commercial sterilization: a) to facilitate FDA approval, a standard thermal sterilization treatment at process temperature 121 C accelerated by the application of 700MPa with holding time 3 min was evaluated; b) thermal HP/TS treatment using lower temperature than in a) with increased holding time. Furthermore, inactivation studies, incubation tests, packaging identification, and compression heating studies gave a deeper understanding of the process.