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Physical-mechanical properties of egg constituents and their modifications during storage and poststorage greatly influence the efficiency of food processing, such as the separation of white and yolk by mechanical shelling. Thick albumen height, Haugh unit, yolk index and vitelline membrane-yolk system strength of eggs from Hy-Line White and Lohmann Brown hens were analyzed during 7 mo of storage at 0 degrees C performing 3 poststorage treatments: i) immediately after refrigeration, T1; ii) after a further 6 h at 18 degrees C after refrigeration, T2; and iii) after a week at 18 degrees C after refrigeration, T3. For all qualitative parameters considered, this last poststorage treatment appeared to be the factor that produced the highest decrements; with respect to the first poststorage treatment, a further week at 18 degrees C after refrigeration can involve mean decreases of about 19, 14, 14, and 16% in thick albumen height, Haugh unit, yolk index, and vitelline membrane-yolk system strength (in terms of maximum force), respectively. During about 7 mo of storage at 0 degrees C, the latter parameter decreases, on average, by 10%. Increasing the storage time, physical-mechanical behavior was sometimes divergent from the observed trends.

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