Keywords

Egg; Egg products; Egg quality; Egg processing; Ultrasound/Sonication; Cavitation; Microbial inactivation; Quality characterization; Protein functionality

Introduction

Eggs are natural and inexpensive source of high quality protein and micronutrients and also the most consumed food due to their multifunctional properties such as foaming in cakes and meringues; gelation in cakes and quiches; adding nutritional value (nutritional bars or powdered mixes-protein fortification); and improved texture of baked goods [1]. The egg has a long history of being recognized as an important food ingredient and nutrient source for humans. However, shell eggs are highly perishable foodstuff and undergo considerable quality changes (chemical, physical and microbiological) during long term storage. Thus, it is necessary for fresh eggs to reach the final consumer with high quality [2] with extended the shelf life using effective novel treatment techniques. Food scientists today are focused on the development of not only microbiologically safe products with along storage life, but also, products that have fresh-like characteristics with a high quality in taste, flavor, and texture. Thermal treatments are the most common used method to obtain safe and shelf-stable foods; however, the high temperatures achieved during processing usually cause detrimental effects on the desirable nutritional components and health related compounds. High temperature is responsible for protein coagulation and changes in flavor, taste, and texture, often creating the need for additives to improve the product. Due to a clear consumer demand for high quality food, new safe and emerging non-thermal effective technologies of food processing and preservation are being developed [3].

Egg are used as raw materials or auxiliary components in the production of many different food products (bakery and pastry industry, mayonnaise, sauces, sports products, ice cream, biscuits, soups, nougat, waffles, chocolate and cream varieties) with freeze, dried (powder) or pasteurized form [4]. Egg is used extensively in the food production for the purpose of gelation, foaming, crystallization retardants, binders, colorants, flavor-giving volume receive, blistering or emulsifier function. Nowadays purpose of the preservation of eggs and egg products to increase the shelf life and stability, pasteurization technique is utilized. However, because of heat treatment can damage the functional properties, flavor and structure of egg; there is increasing demand for alternative pasteurization methods that ensure safety while decreasing product degradation. Novel thermal and non-thermal technologies have been designed to meet these requirements, especially in the processing of egg albumin. At present, several non-thermal processing technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) [5-7], ultrasound (US) [8,9], ultraviolet light (UV), pulsed electric fields [10-13], ozonation [14,15], among others, are being used or explored to process foods at low temperatures, avoiding the negative changes induced by heat for perishable food [16-18].

US treatment is one of the sustainable, green, and nonconventional technologies that has gained increasing popularity in food processing, particularly in tissue homogenization, extraction of bioactive compounds, drying, enzyme inactivation, and filtration [19].

It has been observed a limited number of publications concerning the effect of ultrasounds on the processing eggs the use of ultrasound, especially upon improving the quality of liquid egg. Therefore, with using non-thermal technologies such as ultrasound to improved retention of quality and functional properties with shorter processing times of liquid egg in commercial liquid egg industry will be important. Ultrasonic treatment is one of non-thermal technologies that could be the alternative to existing thermal processing techniques. It is based on the transmission of ultrasonic sound waves (20 kHz to 100 kHz frequency) through a media. Ultrasound with a frequency range oscillating between 16-100 kHz and 10-10000 W/cm² of power has immense potential for a wide range of applications in the food processing. The effect of ultrasound is related to cavitation, heating, dynamic agitation, shear stress and turbulence. The rapid bubble collapse produces shear forces in the surrounding liquid. It enhances convective heat transfer as well as generates bubble explosions, which produce local hot spots that could cause microorganism inactivation and enzyme destruction by cavitation [20,21]. The cleaning/disinfecting of factory surfaces, but many of its uses are still being researched. Recently, numerous ultrasound studies were published in using ultrasonic waves may improve the overall characteristics of shell eggs that will result in significant savings for the egg industry. Considerable amount of published work on ultrasonic treatment were dealt with microbiological effect on perishable food rather than functional and chemical properties even it has a broad range of use in food industry [20,22-30]. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the use ultrasound in protection of the internal qualities based on physicochemical and functional properties of egg and egg product. Ultrasound is gaining importance because this non-thermal processing technique is mild, and avoids the formation of off-flavours and the deterioration of food components and nutrients.

Conclusions

The fresh eggs could be considered as excellent sources of nutrients and functional compounds to provide wellness. Food manufacturers must seek to identify the optimal preservation methods in order to offer products with a high quality and sensorial attributes to alternatives to conventional methods such as sterilization and pasteurization. At the same time, food safety has to be achieved through the preservation methods, making shelf life stable. US technologies have been developed with great success.

References

1. Hernandez-Ledesma B, Chia-Chien H (2013) Functional Proteins and Peptides of Hen’s Egg Origin. In: M Abdou A, Kim M, Sato K, (eds) Bioactive Food Peptides in Health and Disease. London, InTechOpen, United Kingdom. pp. 115-116.
2. Caner C, Cansız Ö (2008) Chitosan coating minimises eggshell breakage and improves egg quality. J Sci Food and Agric 88: 56-61.
3. Huang E, Mittal GS, Griffiths MW (2006a) Inactivation of Salmonella enteritidis in Liquid Whole Egg using Combination Treatments of Pulsed Electric Field, High Pressure and Ultrasound. Biosyst Eng 94: 403-413.
4. Muthukumarappan K, O'Donnell CP, Cullen PJ (2010) Ozone Utilization in Encyclopedia of Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering, Taylor & Francis 32: 166-179.
5. Hoppe A, Jung S, Patnaik A, Zeece MG (2013) Effect of high pressure treatment on egg white protein digestibility and peptide products. Innov Food Sci Emerg Technol 17: 54-62.
6. Patrignani F, Vannini L, Sado Kamdem SL, Hernando I, Marco-Moles R, et al. (2013) High pressure homogenization vs heat treatment: safety and functional properties of liquid whole egg. Food Microbiol 36: 63-69.
7. Strohalm J, Novotna P, Houska M, Kyhos K, Vavreinova S, et al. (2000) Influence of high pressure treatment on rheological and other properties of egg white. High Pressure Res 19: 137-143.
8. Chemat F, Huma Z, Khan MK (2011) Applications of ultrasound in food technology: Processing, preservation and extraction. Ultrasonics Sonochem 18: 813-835.
9. Mason TJ, Paniwnyk L, Chemat F (2003) Ultrasound as a preservation technology. In: P Zeuthen, L Bøgh-Sørensen, (eds) Food Preservation Techniques. New Delhi, woodhead publishing limited, India. pp. 303-337.
10. Monfort S, Gayan E, Raso J, Condon S, Alvarez I (2010) Evaluation of pulsed electric fields technology for liquid whole egg pasteurization. Food Microbiol 27: 845-852.
11. Monfort S, Saldana G, Condon S, Raso J, Alvarez I (2012) Inactivation of Salmonella spp. in liquid whole egg using pulsed electric fields, heat, and additives. Food Microbiol 30: 393-399
12. Sepulveda DRMM, Gongora-Nieto JA, Guerrero-Beltran JA, Barbosa Canovas GV (2003) Extension of milk shelf-life by a hurdle combination of pulsed electric fields and a mild thermal treatment in Institute of Food Technologists, Annual Meeting, USA.
13. Zhao W, Tang Y, Lu L, Chen X, Li C (2014) Review- Pulsed Electric Fields Processing of Protein-Based Foods. Food Bioprocess Technol 7: 114-125.
14. Debabandya M, Sabyasachi M, Saroj G, Abhijit K (2013) Application of hurdles for extending the shelf life of fresh fruits. Trends in Post Harvest Technol 1 :37-54
15. Perry JJ, Rodriguez-Saona LE, Yousef AE (2011) Quality of Shell Eggs pasteurized with heat or heat-ozone combination during extended storage. J Food Sci 76: S437-444
16. McCluskey VKK (2007) Microbial Analysis of Shelled Eggs and Chemical and Functional Analysis of Liquid Eggs. PhD Dissertation (Doktora Tezi). Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA.
17. Tan TC, Kanyarat K, Azhar ME (2012) Evaluation of functional properties of egg white obtained from pasteurized shell egg as ingredient in angel food cake. Int Food Res J 19: 303-308.
18. Unluturk S, Atilgan MR, Baysal AH, Unluturk MS (2010) Modeling inactivation kinetics of liquid egg white exposed to UV-C irradiation. Int J Food Microbiol 142: 341-347.
19. Poojary MM, Dellarosa N, Roohinejad S, Koubaa M, Tylewicz U, et al. (2017) Influence of Innovative Processing on γ-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Contents in Plant Food Materials. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf 16: 895-905.
20. Ajlouni S, Sibrani H, Premier R, Tomkins B (2006) Ultrasonication and Fresh Produce (Cos lettuce) Preservation. J of Food Sci 71: 62-68.
21. Piyasena P, Mohareb E, McKellar RC (2003) Inactivation of microbes using ultrasound: a review. Int J of Food Microbiol 87: 207-216.
22. Aygun A, Sert D (2012) Effects of ultrasonic treatment on eggshell microbial activity, hatchability, tibia mineral content, and chick performance in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) eggs. Poult Sci 91: 732-738.
23. Birmpa A, Sfika V, Vantarakis A (2013) Ultraviolet light and ultrasound as non-thermal treatments for the inactivation of microorganisms in fresh ready-to-eat foods. Int J of Food Microb 167: 96-102.
24. Cabeza MC, Cambero MI, de la Hoz L, García ML, Ordóñez JA (2011) Effect of the thermoultrasonic treatment on the eggshell integrity and their impact on the microbial quality. Inn Food Sci & Emerg Technol 12: 111-117.
25. Cabeza MC, Ordóñez JA, Cambero I, de la Hoz L, Garcia ML (2004) Effect of Thermoultrasanication on Salmonella Enterica Seovar Enteritidis in Distilled Water and Intact Shell Eggs. J Food Protec 67: 1886-1891.
26. Huang E, Mittal GS, Griffiths MW (2006a) Inactivation of Salmonella enteritidis in Liquid Whole Egg using Combination Treatments of Pulsed Electric Field, High Pressure and Ultrasound. Biosys Eng 94: 403-413.
27. Huang E, Mittal GS, Griffiths MW (2006b) Inactivation of Salmonella enteritidis in Liquid Whole Egg using Combination Treatments of Pulsed Electric Field, High Pressure and Ultrasound. Biosys Eng 94: 403-413.
28. Hwang EF (2004) Liquid whole egg pasteurization using combination treatments of pulsed electric field, high pressure, and ultrasound. M.Sc. Dissertation. University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
29. Lee DU, Heinz V, Knorr D (2003) Effects of combination treatments of nisin and high-intensity ultrasound with high pressure on the microbial inactivation in liquid whole egg. Inn Food Sci & Emer Techn 4: 387-393.
30. Sert D, Aygun A, Torlak E, Mercan E (2013) Effect of ultrasonic treatment on reduction of Esherichia coli ATCC 25922 and egg quality parameters in experimentally contaminated hens' shell eggs. J Sci Food and Agric 93: 2973-2978.