BUSINESS

Screening of Salmonella Enterica: Salmonella Enterica(SE) is widely known as the cause of food poisoning. The large-scale food poisoning which attributed to eggs contaminated by SE occurred in 1997, and following this incident, the risk of SE contamination has become largely known in the field.

PPQC has often maintained how hazardous SE is for eggs in the industry and continued research to find a practical method to protect table eggs since 1990. Consequently, we had almost completed the the system to ensure the safety of the products with our spontaneous monitoring at the time of this food poisoning case in 1997. Prompted by the high frequency of SE food poisoning case, the inspection data which ensures the safety of products became required more in production.

Before applying the system to the field, we visited Pennsylvania in the U.S. to investigate in detail their SE controlling system which was globally known as a pioneer at that time, and by comparing their system to ours, we have successfully elaborated the system which detects SE even more accurately.

After such an effort, we have introduced the screening system to our clients and also have been supporting them to decontaminate their environments while investigating the state of SE contamination outdoor.

Regarding the level and occurrence of contamination, we have clarified the risk of contamination through our research and development which closely correspond to the actual production, and have been continuously presenting and publishing the results in the conference and journals (please see the Research and Development page for details).

One analytical test for the actual SE contamination in the production field sometimes requires 1000 eggs (equivalent to 60kg) per lot. Although, in such a case, many laboratories pick up a part of these egg samples and use them for analysis, but we apply the entire samples for the analytic test by dividing all eggs into 25 small quantities (that is equivalent to 40 eggs) per batch (1000 eggs). The testing method using a large number of samples is costly, but we can obtain high reliability in the results.

Furthermore, we perform serological analysis of SE isolated from the fields, and run genetic screening to identify the rout of contamination. PPQC maintain such monitoring for the table eggs’ safety for all of our clients.

Screening Freshness of table eggs: We weigh 30 raw eggs individually, collected at random　directly from each poultry house, break the egg shells to examine the strength of shell, check the color of egg yolk, and measure the levels of albumin to calculate the HAUGH unit, and other analysis are conducted. Simultaneously, we additionally scrutinize the surface of egg shells to assess their adequacy for packing and inspect visually whether there is any foreign object inside of the eggs. Following these procedures, we produce report which enable us to judge the condition of the lots.

HAUGH unit is the index that is acknowledged as an important figure in the market to estimate eggs’ freshness. Our clients utilize such figures for their product promotions.