Discovery of Spoilage Markers for Chicken Eggs Using Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Based Untargeted and Targeted Foodomics

Abstract

The current approaches remain insufficient for measuring chicken egg spoilage or present analytical limitations. This study aimed to complement the existing analyses and identify novel markers using liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry-based foodomics strategies. In the discovery set, comparative untargeted metabolomics was utilized to identify marker candidates in microbially inoculated chicken eggs. Markers were annotated by spectral matching with authentic standards, experimental libraries, or in silico fragmentation. In the validation set, targeted metabolomics was employed to verify the markers in stored chicken eggs from five farms. Statistical differences at a p-value < 0.001 revealed increases in lactic and 3-hydroxybutyric acids and decreases in phosphocholine, LPE(O-18:1), LPC(16:0), and LPC(18:0) in stored eggs. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the six combined markers yielded an AUC of 0.956 and a sensitivity and specificity of ∼90%. Four phospholipids were highlighted as a novel class of spoilage markers. Our findings may contribute to further industrial implementation, benefiting the quality assurance and food safety of poultry egg production.

Intestinal microbiota of layer hens and its association with egg quality and safety

“…Compared with eggs that did not contact the cloaca and were removed by dissection, the oviposited egg surface had a distinct microbiota and a higher bacterial load with a density of 0.75 per 1800 μm 2 ( Bunker et al, 2021 ). Generally, fungi can multiply rapidly by catabolizing nutrients in eggs and producing harmful toxins and an unpleasant odor ( Chang et al, 2021 ). Recently, Bunker et al (2021) confirmed that eggshell microbes had antifungal properties by fungal attachment assays.…”

UHPLC‐Q‐Orbitrap‐based untargeted lipidomics reveals the variation of yolk lipids during egg storage

“…From the raw data, we found that Cer(d18:1/16:0), DG(32:1/16:0), PC(18:0/15:0), and MGDG(32:1/18:1) were only present in the T30 group, whereas PI(17:0/20:4), PS(20:2e/22:2), PS(20:2/22:5) were only identified in the D0 group (Fig. 2A,B), suggesting these could be used as references to determine the freshness of eggs 29 . It was reported that the high levels of specific lipids, only found in the T30 group, are highly associated with major adverse cardiovascular events 30,31 .…”

Untargeted metabolomics by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry for food authentication: A review

“…In addition, this group found that, at a lower storage temperature, the extension of storage time did not result in an increase in choline (Johnson et al., 2020). In order to identify novel markers associated with egg freshness, an untargeted metabolomics approach based on UHPLC‐Q‐Orbitrap was developed (Chang et al., 2021). In the discovery phase where fresh and microbially inoculated eggs were used, 13 potential markers were selected.…”