An Assessment of the Influence of Silver Stabilized Hydrogen Peroxide on the Eggshell Condition

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the condition of eggshells hygienised with an silver stabilized hydrogen peroxide of different concentrations. Eggs were treated with a solution of the preparation and stored for four weeks. In preliminary investigations the elastic deformation of eggshells was measured and analysed in order to determine the influence of a preparation concentrated at 0.01-3% on the eggshell strength. The research proved that a preparation concentrated at 1-3% significantly reduced the eggshell strength. At the next stage of the research, having excluded the high concentrations with a negative effect on  eggshell strength, i.e. 1-3%, the experiment was conducted again. It was followed by a microbiological analysis in which the total count of aerobic bacteria, yeasts, moulds ad also bacteria from the Pseudomonas genus and Enterobacteriaceae family were measured. The investigations confirmed that the preparation concentrated at 0.01-0.9% did not have a significant influence on eggshell strength. Hygienisation in solutions concentrated at 0.01-0.9% caused complete inactivation of bacteria of the Enterobacteriaceae family, yeasts and moulds. Immediately after treatment with the preparation concentrated at 0.3% the count of aerobic bacteria and the bacteria of the Pseudomonas genus decreased by 1.9 log CFU/g and 0.7 log CFU/g, respectively. The hygienisation of eggs with the preparation concentrated at 0.9% and storing them for four weeks under controlled conditions reduced the count of aerobic bacteria by 1.9 log and the count of Pseudomonas bacteria by 1.7 log, as compared with the reference sample.