Journal
POULTRY SCIENCE
Volume 90, Issue 7, Pages 1609-1615Publisher
POULTRY SCIENCE ASSOC INC
DOI: 10.3382/ps.2010-01305
Keywords
aerobic bacteria; crush and rub; eggshell sanitization; hatching egg; rinse
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study compared surface and deep eggshell aerobic bacteria recovered by the rinse and crush-and-rub sampling methods for commercial hatching eggs after treatment with sanitizers. Eggs were arranged into 5 treatments consisting of no treatment, water, and 3 sanitizers. The sanitizers were H(2)O(2), phenol, and Q(4)B (a compound chemical containing 4 quaternary ammoniums and 1 biguanide moiety). Eggs were sprayed according to treatment and allowed to dry for 1 h before sampling. To collect samples for the eggshell rinse, each egg was massaged in a plastic bag with 20 mL of saline. Eggshells were then aseptically opened and their contents were discarded before being individually crushed into 50-mL centrifuge tubes containing 20 mL of saline. Aerobic bacteria were enumerated on Petrifilm after 48 h of incubation at 37 degrees C. Aerobic bacteria recovered (log(10) cfu/mL) from the eggshell rinse were highest and similar for the no-treatment (4.0) and water (3.7) groups, lower for the phenol (3.2) and H(2)O(2) (3.1) groups, and lowest for the Q(4)B (2.4) group. Aerobic bacteria levels with the crush-and-rub method were similar for the no-treatment (2.5) and water (2.3) groups, lower for the phenol (1.6) group, intermediate for the H(2)O(2) (1.2) group, and lowest for the Q(4)B (0.9) group. The overall correlation between the rinse and crush-and-rub sampling methods for individual egg aerobic bacteria counts was r = 0.71. The correlation within each treatment revealed the following r values: no treatment, 0.55; water, 0.72; H(2)O(2), 0.67; phenol, 0.73; and Q(4)B, 0.38. A second experiment was designed to further examine the lower aerobic bacterial levels recovered by the crush-and-rub method (for previously rinsed eggs) than the levels recovered in the initial eggshell rinse sample. Eggs were either rinsed and then crushed and rubbed, or they were only crushed and rubbed without a prior rinse. Results confirmed a significant decrease (1.5 log(10) cfu/mL) in bacteria levels between the initial rinse (4.4) and the subsequent crush and rub (2.9) for the same eggshell. For the crush-and-rub eggs with no previous rinsing, the bacteria recovery level (3.9) was not significantly different from levels for the rinse method. Therefore, either the rinse or crush-and-rub sampling methods can be used to recover similar levels of eggshell aerobic bacteria.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available