Evaluation of the quality and mechanical resistance of eggs with the application of biodegradable coatings

The chicken egg is one of the most complete and balanced foods for human nutrition, representing an important source of animal protein of the highest quality. The application of coatings can extend the shelf life of these foods, minimizing the migration of moisture, gases (CO2 and O2), solutes and volatile aromatic compounds, and can even function as a vehicle for food additives. The objective of the present work was to test the effect of whey protein concentrate (WPC) based coatings with and without the addition of a lipid source (palm oil) on the quality and mechanical resistance of chicken eggs. The result of this study showed that the coating that offered the least loss of egg quality during storage was the WPC+oil coating. The presence of a lipid combined with a protein constituted a barrier to moisture and CO2; consequently, this coating presented lower values for weight loss and pH, as well as higher values for Haugh unit and shell strength, characterizing better quality eggs.