Consumer acceptance of ozone-treated whole shell eggs.

Ozone-based processing is a novel technology with potentially fewer adverse effects than in-shell thermal pasteurization of eggs. There are no consumer acceptance studies published on ozone-treated eggs. This study examines consumers' ability to detect changes between ozone-treated, thermal-treated, and fresh untreated eggs. Consumers (n = 111) evaluated visual attributes of uncooked eggs and a separate group of consumers (n = 132) evaluated acceptability of cooked eggs. Consumers evaluated attribute intensity of the eggs. The yolks and albumens of the thermal-treated and ozone-treated eggs were perceived to be significantly cloudier than the untreated control, while the ozone-treated eggs were more similar to control (P < 0.05). The yolks of ozone-treated eggs were perceived to have significantly lower heights and greater spreads than the others (P < 0.05). Despite these perceptions, overall visual appeal of ozone-treated eggs was not significantly different from control eggs. A separate set of consumers used hedonic scales to evaluate overall liking, appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture of cooked eggs. Just-about-right (JAR) scales were used to rate the color, moistness, and texture. There were no differences on any attribute scores between the treatments, except thermal-treated and ozone-treated were perceived as less moist than the control. There were no adverse effects on consumer acceptance of eggs, treated with ozone, with acceptance the same as an untreated control. These findings are useful as ozone pasteurization can enhance the safety of fresh shell eggs to meet the goals of the U.S. Egg Safety Action Plan. Practical Application: The U.S. Egg Safety Action Plan requires all shell eggs to be pasteurized to prevent foodborne illness. Heat pasteurization partially cooks the egg, so an alternative process uses ozone with less heat. This study shows the ozone pasteurization has no detectable sensory defects.