title: Determination of the quality of stripe-marked and cracked eggs during storage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Stripe marks, which occasionally occur on the shell, do not cause breakage to the shell and shell membranes of eggs. This study investigated the quality of intact eggs (IEs), minor stripe-marked eggs (MEs), severe stripe-marked eggs (SEs), and cracked eggs (CEs) during 3-week storage at 25°C.
  
  
  METHODS
  Shell eggs were collected the day after being laid and were washed. Among them, eggs without any visual cracks or stripe marks on the shells were evaluated as IEs by the plant employees using candling in a darkened egg storage room; the remaining eggs exhibited some eggshell defects. At day 3, the eggs were further categorized into IEs, MEs, SEs, CEs, and broken eggs (BEs) on the basis of the description given. Except BEs, which were discarded, the remaining eggs were stored at 25°C (approximate relative humidity 50%) and then analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stripe marks were observed primarily within the first 3 days after washing. At day 3, CEs had significantly (p<0.05) lower Haugh unit values, but all eggs had grades AA or A, according to the United States Department of Agriculture standard. As storage time increased, differences in egg quality between groups were more obvious. IEs had the highest eggshell breaking strength. During storage, the total plate counts and pathogens, namelyEscherichia coli,Campylobacterspp.,Staphylococcus aureus, andSalmonellaspp., were not detectable in the internal content of IEs and SEs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, cracks degraded egg quality severely and minor stripe marks only slightly influenced the egg quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Veterinary Pathobiology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ter Hsin
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Veterinary Pathobiology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ying Chen
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Fa Jui
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Tan
keywords: Cracked Egg; Egg Quality; Haugh Unit; Microbial Quality; Storage