Preservation of Quality of Table Eggs Using Vegetable Oil and Shea Butter

Abstract

Abstract. The poultry industry in Nigeria keeps expanding on a daily basis and it is faced with the problem of egg glut almost yearly. Most of the poultry are raised in rural environments where there is no available and avoidable power supply for egg preservation. The study was aimed at using locally available and cheap materials for preservation of eggs quality under the hot ambient temperature. The eggs were divided into three groups of 80 eggs each. The first and second groups were treated with vegetable oil (soybean oil) and shea butter, respectively, while the third group served as control. The eggs were stored under the ambient conditions and assessed for their physical and nutritional qualities on days 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43 and 50. The physical quality was assessed by determining the albumen height and the Haugh's unit, while the nutritional quality was appraised through the protein concentration of the albumen. Based on the values of Haugh's unit, eggs treated with vegetable oil produced excellent results; good quality eggs were obtained up to 50 th day of storage. Treatment with shea butter maintained quality eggs up to the 29 th day, while with untreated eggs good physical quality was maintained up to 22 nd day of storage. Protein concentrations of eggs in the three groups studied decline with duration of storage, however the protein concentrations of eggs treated with vegetable oil were significantly higher than the other groups (p<0.001). The eggs treated with shea butter recorded a comparative higher protein concentrations than the untreated eggs (p=0.002).

Effect of Storage Methods on Egg Characteristics and Embryonic Development of Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris) Eggs

“…The significant differences observed could be explained that the use of vegetable oil was effective in preventing deterioration, maintaining interior quality, the albumen weight and yolk weight as compared to the other treatment groups. This result is in agreement with Okiki and Ahmed [17] who reported that coating eggs with vegetable oil prevents loss of moisture and carbon dioxide via the shell pores thereby maintaining interior quality of chicken eggs.…”

“…This can be further explained that, the efficacy of oils in preservation of eggs has been attributed to the ability of oil in blocking the air pores of the egg shells, thereby preventing the flow of air in and out of the eggs and degradation by the contaminants such as air may carry [16]. Similar findings were reported by Okiki and Ahmed [17]. The significant differences observed could be attributed to the level of vegetable used in this experiment.…”