Study of retail egg supply chain for quality in relation to level of sanitization and farm of origin

Abstract

In the present cross-sectional study, eggs collected from retail outlets were analyzed for physicochemical and microbial quality. Comparisons were made between ?sanitized? (cleaned, sanitized, and retailed after packaging) and ?unsanitized? (not subjected to cleaning, sanitization, and packaging) retail table eggs that originated from ?commercial? and ?backyard? (eggs retailed loose without any cleaning, sanitization, or packaging) farms. A total of 1120 eggs collected from retail markets were analyzed for physicochemical (weight, shell thickness, shape, yolk index, albumen index, Haugh unit, color, and pH) and microbial (total viable count, and yeast and mold counts) characteristics. Eggs collected from retail markets were found to significantly differ with respect to weight, shell thickness, yolk index, albumen index, Haugh unit, yolk color, and total viable counts (P