The term “egg products” defines the eggs that have been taken away from their shells for processing at “breaker plants” services. To have egg products , a whole processing is needed. Before having egg products, the eggs should go through the processing of breaking eggs, filtering, mixing, stabilizing, blending, pasteurizing, cooling, freezing or drying and finally packaging.
Why use egg products?
Even if the consumption of fresh egg has on one hand declined for the last 50 years, the use of eggs on other food products has relatively increased on other hand.
For instance, the foaming properties of egg whites and yolks are important in bakery products. Additionally, egg yolks act as an emulsifier in salad dressings and mayonnaise. And the fact of adding eggs to meat or other foods improves their binding properties.
Are egg products safe?
This is a process that fights salmonella even if it does not cook the eggs nor affect their flavor, their color, their nutritional value nor their use.
Is there any health risk associated with raw egg products?
Normally, food businesses are responsible for the food they stock. They should then know the risk related with the handling of raw eggs or of preparing raw egg products, as far as Salmonella is concerned. Remember that salmonella is a kind of bacteria that lives in the intestines of birds and other animals.
But if it comes in the yolk, salmonella grows quickly. This is an infection that may happen if there’s a microscopic crack in the shell.
Otherwise, egg- outbreaks related that are commonly seen in food business share the following factors:
- absence of skills and knowledge on raw or lightly cooked egg products (handling and storage);
- lack of temperature control;
- stocking raw egg products beyond their recommended storage life (maximum 24 hours) at refrigerated temperatures;
- storing many eggs together for later use, or combining raw egg products from different batches;
- lack of cleaning and sanitising ;
- cross contamination.
To ensure the safety of their food, businesses must take special care when preparing, storing, or handling eggs and raw egg products to prevent Salmonella contamination.
What should food business do to prevent intoxication from egg product?
As food businesses are responsible for the food they supply, they should master the risk related with the handling and sale of raw egg products. In the case where a food business handles the preparation and the sale of raw egg products, they are naturally willing to accept the intrinsic food safety risk if they have introduced risky raw egg product