The efficiency of Thermosonication, Ultrasonication and pasteurization on the storage stability of fresh eggs

Abstract

The effectiveness of ultrasonication (90 W 3.5 min.), thermosonication (52 °C, 90 W 3.5 min.), and pasteurization (57.5 °C, 25 min.) processes on the quality attributes (HU as Haugh unit, YI as yolk index, dry matter, pH, foam stability and relative foam capacity) and shell strength of fresh eggs were evaluated during storage period. The significant differences in HU values between the untreated group and the treated eggs began to be observed from the day-10. The significant differences were found in the HU both in the untreated group (47.95) and in the eggs treated with ultrasonication (55.56), thermosonication (63.64), and pasteurization (73.28), with the highest HU value found in the pasteurized eggs at day-30. It was observed that thermosonication treatments maintained higher YI values compared to the untreated group, with significant differences between the values. The pH of the albumen and yolk at all groups increased in the highest value with control (albumen 9.44 - yolk 6.44), ultrasonication (albumen 9.35 - yolk 6.34), thermosonication (albumen 9.37 - yolk 6.41), and pasteurization (albumen 9,40 - yolk 6.35). The albumen dry matter values tended to increase in all groups during the storage, with the lowest dry matter results observed in the ultrasonicated samples. The relative foam capacity (RWC) value of the eggs treated with ultrasonication (796) was higher than those of the control (626), thermosonication (735), and pasteurization (680) groups. It was highlighted that thermal treatment led to a decrease in the RWC values at day-30. The lowest shell strength values were observed in the thermosonication samples due to both the cavitation mechanism and heat. This study demonstrated that thermosonication process is efficacious in maintaining the quality attributes of the fresh shell eggs. It was found that the combination of ultrasound with heat particularly improved quality characteristics such as HU and YI. Thermosonication applications could be an important and effective alternative for enhancing the internal-quality attributes and increasing the storage stability of eggs.