Egg Product Safety

Egg Processors Boast 50-plus Year Stretch of Food Safety for Pasteurized Product

Food manufacturers can have confidence in the U.S. egg product supply. The first step toward ensuring a safe packaged food is to ensure the basic ingredients are safe as well. The egg product safety record allows food processors to rest in the knowledge that they are using a safe ingredient when including further processed, pasteurized eggs. Egg nutritional and functional power is supplied by nature while its safety record is provided by the farmers’ hard work and conscientious effort to implement best practices.

Congress passed the Egg Products Inspection Act in 1970 which requires that all egg products distributed for consumption be pasteurized to destroy Salmonella. In the past 50-plus years there have been no recorded outbreaks of salmonellosis linked to pasteurized egg products, since the institution of mandatory pasteurization.

This safety record is especially impressive considering the volume of eggs consumed in this country. Of the over 99 billion eggs produced annually in the United States, slightly more than 30 percent are in the form of egg products, further processed into either a liquid, frozen or dried form.

The USDA-approved pasteurization (heat treatment) methods assure food manufacturers that they’re using high-quality, safe egg products. The companies involved in producing egg products conduct thousands of quality assurance tests to be sure harmful bacteria are destroyed during the pasteurization process.

Egg products are processed in sanitary facilities under a strict system of inspection supervised by the USDA.

Regulations require the use of E-3-A and 3-A Sanitary Standards and Accepted Practices for processing equipment.

They are also applied to determine acceptance of the design of equipment commonly used in both the dairy and egg products industries. These standards were established by USDA and International Association for Food Protection.

Some standards are adaptations of those of the Dairy and Food Industries Supply Association, Inc., and others are unique to the egg industry, such as those for egg-breaking equipment.

For copies of these standards, contact: International Association for Food Protection 

Some of the advantages of refrigerated liquid, frozen, dried, and pre-cooked egg products eggs include:

• Assurance of a safe product
• Reduced risk of contamination
• Extended shelf life
• Convenience
• Consistent performance
• Product stability
• Functionality

Creating appealing food products with great taste is a challenge enough. Exceed your expectations and take the worry about safety out of your formulation concerns with real egg products.

For more information about the pasteurization methods used by the U.S. egg products industry, click here.

Click here to locate a U.S. supplier of REAL egg products.