Project Description:

Transmission of Salmonella by fresh egg results in 700,000 cases of salmonellosis and $1.1 billion loss annually in the U.S. The U.S. Egg Safety Action Plan calls for reducing this to half by 2010 with the overall goal of zero. We can produce whole fresh shell eggs with zero risk of Salmonellosis with an innovative non-thermal process technology developed at Ohio State University (OSU). This project will scale-up the technology in partnership with commercial egg processors in Ohio with the ultimate goal of widespread commercial implementation.

Scientists at OSU have successfully treated whole shell eggs to make them safe without cooking them. This innovative, patented technology is much superior to current thermal treatments, such as the Davidson® process, that results in a partly cooked egg that has low consumer acceptance. The highly promising OSU process has the support of small egg producers in Ohio who created a joint venture called EggTech Ltd. to expedite commercialization. A team of OSU scientists and the EggTech partners are developing a commercial scale process for deployment to an established national market. The market demand is high for wholesome fresh safe shell eggs that are free of pathogenic microorganisms.

Salmonella Enteritidis is a foodborne pathogen with great economic impact on the egg industry. Salmonella infections are not only on the surface of the egg, but may also be on the yolk or in the albumen. Internal contamination is difficult to eliminate. Research at Ohio State demonstrates that sequential application of heat and ozone inactivates >5 log of Salmonella population in shell eggs, without damaging egg quality. This was achieved with bench scale equipment and resulted in two U.S. patents. Ozone technology eliminates Salmonella Enteritidis inside shell eggs faster than any known thermal technology, with higher product quality and better consumer acceptance (Rodriguez-Romo, 2004).

The objective of this cooperative agreement is to validate the egg decontamination process on pilot scale equipment and create a commercial scale design that can be used by the egg industry. Construction of an egg sanitization pilot plant size machine is recently achieved. It was supported by a consortium of small Ohio egg producers. The proposed work includes innoculating eggs with Salmonella Enteritidis (10^6-7 CFU/g egg) then treating them in the pilot machinery with varying heat, time, vacuum, gaseous ozone pressure and cooling. We will establish the optimum conditions for eradication of Salmonella in eggs.

Marketing studies and equipment optimization research is now underway, supported by Ohio experiment station and EggTech investments. CIFT support will expedite development of industry standards, advance the prototype to the next level of development, and ultimately contribute to a substantial reduction in foodborne illness.

Research in our laboratory shows exposing Salmonella Enteritidis-contaminated shell eggs (10^6-7 CFU/g egg) with ozone-based treatments is remarkably effective (Rodriguez-Romo, 2004). Treatments sufficient to eliminate the microorganism had minimal impact on interior egg quality. These findings now must be validated under commercial processing conditions.

Last modified: 06/03/07