Advanced Oxidation Process in Egg Sanitization

Abstract

The microbial quality of eggs entering the hatchery is an important critical control point for biosecurity, pathogen reduction, and food safety programs in poultry production. Developing interventions to reduce Salmonella contamination of eggs is important to improving the microbial food safety of poultry and poultry products. The hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and ultraviolet light (UV) Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) has been previously demonstrated to be effective in reducing Salmonella on the surface of experimentally contaminated eggs. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of treating eggs with an egg sanitizing apparatus using H₂O₂/UV AOP on Salmonella contamination during incubation, hatching, and in broiler chicks during grow-out. Experimentally contaminated eggs were treated using the automated H₂O₂/UV AOP egg sanitizer and incubated for 21 days. AOP sanitization reduced Salmonella greater than 7 log₁₀ cfu egg¯¹ (P < 0.05) from the surface of experimentally contaminated eggs and reduced the number of Salmonella positive eggs by 65 % (P < 0.05) when treated 1 hour post-inoculation. AOP treatment also reduced the number of Salmonella-positive eggs during incubation. Additionally, Salmonella was recovered from more chicks hatched from untreated eggs than from eggs treated using the H₂O₂/UV AOP egg sanitizer (P < 0.05) through 14 days post-hatch. These data suggest reduction of Salmonella contamination on the surface of eggs using the H₂O₂/UV AOP egg sanitizer prior to incubation may reduce the gastrointestinal colonization of chicks by Salmonella.