• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1495-1499
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• 2017

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of enrichment resources (a perch, dustbath, and nest) layout in furnished laying-hen cages (FC) on exterior quality of eggs. Methods: One hundred and sixty-eight (168) Hy-Line Brown laying hens at 16 weeks of age were randomly distributed to four treatments: small furnished cages (SFC), medium furnished cages type I (MFC-I), medium furnished cages type II (MFC-II), and medium furnished cages type III (MFC-III). Each treatment had 4 replicates or cages with 6 hens for SFC (24 birds for each SFC) and 12 hen/cage for MFC-I, -II, and -III (48 birds for each MFC-I, -II and -III). Following a 2-week acclimation, data collection started at 18 weeks of age and continued till 52 weeks of age. Dirtiness of egg surface or cracked shell as indicators of the exterior egg quality were recorded each week. Results: The results showed that the proportion of cracked or dirty eggs was significantly affected by the FC type (p<0.01) in that the highest proportion of cracked or dirty eggs was found in MFC-I and the lowest proportion of dirty eggs in SFC. The results of this showed that furnished cage types affected both dirty eggs and cracked eggs (p<0.01). The results also indicated that not nest but dustbath lead to more dirty eggs. Only MFC-I had higher dirty eggs at nest than other FC (p<0.01). The results of dirty eggs in MFC-I and MFC-II compared with SFC and MFC-III seemed suggest that a low position of dustbath led to more dirty eggs. Conclusion: SFC design affected exterior egg quality and the low position of dustbath in FC resulted in higher proportion of dirty eggs.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2002

The fresh eggs of African ostrich in Korea were used in this study to investigate their interior and exterior quality characteristics. In ostrich egg shape characteristics, long and short length were measured as 15.1~16.1 cm and 12.1~13.6 cm, respectively. The egg shape index was calculated as 81.0 and the egg shell showed a more g loss white in color than that of hen egg. Calculated breaking strength of egg shell and egg shell surface based on the equation were $41.155kg/cm^3$ and $804.7cm^2$, respectively. Average egg shell thickness including egg shell membrane was 1.89 mm and there are no differences among parts of the shell. The egg shell membrane thickness was 0.10 mm showing relatively thick in equator compared with that of blunt end. The ave rage number of egg shell pores was counted as $19.7/cm^2$ showing relatively high number of egg shell pores at point end and the total number of egg shell pores in an egg was estimated as 15,241. The relative port ion of each parts based on egg weight was estimated as 25.1% for egg yolk, 58.2% for egg white, 16.7% for egg shell and the ratio of egg yolk to egg white (Y/W) was 0.43. The average diameter and the ave rage height of ostrich egg white were 19.7 cm and 13.2 mm, respectively. Calculated the H.U (Haugh Unit) was -69.7 and the pH was 8.3. In ostrich egg yolk, the diameter, the height, the egg yolk index, and it's pH were calculated as 14.4 cm, 29.4 mm, 0.20, and 6.6, respectively. And the egg yolk color showed a more thin in yellow chroma compared with that of hen egg as due to it's thicker membrane.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.129-136
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• 2002

This study was conducted to Provide basic information Promoting egg qualify improvement and hygienic control by grasping of present market egg distribution system and hygienic quality. The eggs of 57 brands collected from the department food stores in Incheon Metropolitan City were examined. Eggs were kept in room temperature in all the market and 70.2% of the brands were marked the expiration date indicating that eggs would be available over 28 days after being laid. Fifty-four % of the market eggs was classified as a special or functional egg. Expiration date and date of laying were common labelling items in all brands. These items were labelled in trade mark sheet or eggs tray. Only 66.6% of the brands had the mark about net quantity of contents. The inspection about the exterior and contents of eggs has results as follows: eggshell contamination of feces and feather-9.5%, abnormal and broken eggshell -3.9%, blood and meat spots in contents -14.7% and watery whites -1.8%. Average of Haugh Unit(HU) was 56.1 and below HU 31 were 18 of 285 eggs(6.3%), in addition, more than one egg detected in 12 brands(21.1%) among 57 brands have inferior quality. Salmonella enteritidis from eggshell and antibodies directed from S. enteritidis in the yolks of eggs available in the market were not detected. Ranges of Total bacterial count (CFU/ml) on eggshell of eggs were < 10~8.2$\times$10$_3$, and isolation ratio of Escherichia coli were 4.7%. Tetracyclines were detected in 1.8% of the eggs(1 of57 brands) by CHARMII. As mentioned above, quality control and improving distribution system were required to facilitate egg consumption and improve public health by complementing labelling items and quality standards.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.348-354
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• 2008

Egg grading is determined by exterior and interior quality. Among the evaluation methods for the egg quality, a candling method is common to identify eggs with cracked shells and interior defects. But this method is time-consuming and laborious. In addition, practically, it is challenging to detect hairline and micro cracks. In this study, an on-line inspection system based on acoustic resonance frequency analysis was developed to detect hairline cracks on eggshells. A roller conveyor was used to transfer eggs along one lane to the impact position where each of eggs rotated by the roller was excited with an impact device at four different locations on the eggshell equator. The impact device was consisted of a plastic hammer and a rotary solenoid. The acoustic response of the egg to the impact was measured with a small condenser microphone at the same position as the impact device was installed. Two acoustic parameters, correlation coefficient for normalized power spectra and standard deviation of peak resonant frequencies, were used to detect cracked eggs. Intact eggs showed relatively high correlations among the four normalized power spectra and low standard deviations of the four peak resonant frequencies. On the other hand, cracked eggs showed low correlations and high standard deviations as compared to the intact. This method allowed a crack detection rate of 97.6%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1196-1203
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• 2014

This study intended to compare the productive performance of three different layer raising systems; conventional cage (CC), barn (BR) and aviary (AV). The AV is welfare bestowed housing that allows free locomotion for birds within the BR. The BR allows bird's free locomotion inside BR but without multilevel structures. Both pullets and cockerels were housed together in both AV and BR, but only pullets in CC. Seventeen weeks old Lohmann Brown Lite (n = 800) pullets were housed in AV during this study. The same age layer pullets were simultaneously assigned to either at CC or BR to compare egg production performance with AV. The duration of experiment was 40 weeks (from 21st to 60th week). There were no remarkable differences in egg production, hen day egg production (HDEP) and average egg weight among three rearing systems. First 20 weeks (phase-1) average HDEP (%) of AV, CC, and BR were 85.9, 88.8, 87.1 and average egg weights (g) were 57.5, 59.9, and 56.9 respectively. Those of the remaining 20 weeks (phase-2) were 87.1, 87.9, 85.5 and 64.2, 63.0 62.1, respectively. Daily feed intakes (122 g, 110 g, 125 g); feed conversion ratio (2.4, 2.1, 2.5) and daily egg mass (53.9 g, 54.4 g, 52.8 g) data from AV, CC, and BR were not influenced significantly by the respective raising systems. Daily feed intake of layers in both AV (124 g) and BR (127 g) tended to be higher than that in CC (113 g) during phase-2. Overall, exterior egg quality (dirty and cracked eggs) in both phases was superior in BR compared with AV and CC, whereas CC generated intermediate results. This study indicated that the HDEP per se in AV and BR were not significantly different from that in CC. The study implied that the facility depreciation cost for AV and cost for increased feed intake in AV compared to CC are believed to be critical to evaluate the cost effectiveness of egg production in AV.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.107-116
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• 2013

Purpose - Eggs are nutritionally complete and one of the most popular natural foods. Moreover, the poultry industry is one of the important food industries. However, early industrialization of the poultry industry on its own did not lead to further development compared to other livestock industries. In this study, we investigate what factors influence consumers' behavior and how consumers' understanding of retail business affects their propensity to consume. This study is different from other studies as it analyzes how the brand names of manufacturers and distribution companies affect the purchasing characteristics or actual purchase behavior of consumers in order to suggest how these manufacturers and distribution companies can increase their competitiveness. Research design, data, methodology - This study conducted a survey of 250 randomly selected egg purchasers in discount stores from January to April 2013. Consumers' purchase tendencies were calculated through frequency analysis. This result was then utilized using cluster analysis to draw a conclusion about which purchase tendency influenced consumers buying three different brands of eggs or whether this tendency really affected consumers. As a result, the outcomes of Hypotheses 2 and 3 were not clear so we drew a conclusion with our analysis of Hypothesis 1. Results - While the outcomes of Hypotheses 2 and 3 did not clearly indicate whether purchasing tendencies affected consumers when buying eggs, our analysis of Hypothesis 1 indicated that consumers were affected by the quality of the eggs rather than exterior factors such as the brand name. Thus, we concluded that it is important to promote the excellence of the quality of the eggs. Usually firms buy eggs from farms and repackage them in order to sell them. In this sense, if consumers were aware of this egg production process, and eggs were fairly distributed to retailers, large retail PB businesses would also be able to enhance their competitiveness. Conclusions - The brand, packaging, retail outlet, and other external features influenced the purchase of eggs to a certain degree, while shelf life, grade of the eggs, cleanliness, and other intrinsic characteristics had more influence. In particular, shelf life was the most important factor influencing purchase. Consumers were influenced not only by intrinsic characteristics of the eggs but also by large-scale producers' brands. Consumers relied upon the brand despite reduced competition because they found it difficult to identify shelf life and/or cleanliness. Small businesses and/or large-scale retailers can remain competitive by maintaining the freshness and cleanliness of the eggs. Further studies need to investigate areas in which consumers' cognition of the product is poor and/or the purchase inclination with regard to less developed industries such as eggs. In this study, the greatest problem was that consumers did not consume in accordance with the current situation as consumers have preferred fresh and clean eggs for a long time compared to purchase decisions based on external brands and/or packaging.