Market survey of quality and freshness of eggs produced under an enhanced hen nutrition and egg production program

Abstract

One nationally marketed brand of specialty eggs (brand A), which employs strictly defined production, processing, and storage practices in conjunction with specific vitamin and mineral supplementation of laying hen diets, was identified in a recent survey administered by the USDA to consistently exhibit superior egg quality compared with other brands of eggs. Outlined herein is an evaluation of brand A eggs compared with generic eggs, which confirms the results of this prior study in finding that brand A eggs had higher albumen height, Haugh unit values, and yolk color scores on average, and that brand A albumen height and Haugh unit values also declined at a slower rate to 45 d postpackaging compared with generic eggs. The stringent guidelines outlined for hen nutrition and egg processing that are followed by the marketing company of brand A eggs were shown in this study to effectively improve and maintain quality of retail shell eggs over time, which is beneficial both to the profitability of companies that produce eggs in this manner and to consumers who purchase these eggs. © 2013 Poultry Science Association, Inc.