The influence of temperature on the behaviour of mixed bacterial contamination of the shell membrane of the hen's egg

Impact of egg disinfection of hatching eggs on the eggshell microbiome and bacterial load

Disinfection of hatching eggs is essential to ensure high quality production of broilers. Different protocols are followed in different hatcheries; however, only limited scientific evidence on how the disinfection procedures impact the microbiome is available. The aim of the present study was to characterize the microbiome and aerobic bacterial load of hatching eggs before disinfection and during the subsequent disinfection steps. The study included a group of visibly clean and a group of visibly dirty eggs. For dirty eggs, an initial wash in chlorine was performed, hereafter all eggs were submitted to two times fumigation and finally spray disinfection. The eggshell microbiome was characterized by sequencing of the total amount of 16S rRNA extracted from each sample, consisting of shell surface swabs of five eggs from the same group. In addition, the number of colony forming units (cfu) under aerobic conditions was established for each disinfection step. The disinfection procedure reduced the bacterial load from more than 104 cfu (initially visibly clean eggs) and 105 cfu (initially visibly dirty eggs) to less than 10 cfu per sample after disinfection for both groups of eggs. The microbiome of both initially visibly clean and initially visibly dirty eggs had the highest abundances of the phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Within the phyla Firmicutes the relative abundances of Clostridiales decreased while Lactobacillus increased from before to after final disinfection. In conclusion, the investigated disinfection procedure is effective in reducing the bacterial load, and by adding a chlorine wash for initially visibly dirty eggs, the microbiome of initially visibly clean and initially visibly dirty eggs had a highly similar microflora after the final disinfection step.

Application of rapid dot blot immunoassay for detection of Salmonella enterica serovar enteritidis in eggs, poultry, and other foods

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis was detected in artificially inoculated eggs within 24 h through a rapid monoclonal antibody-based dot blot immunoassay. Detection in poultry and other products required 28 h. Samples were directly enriched in homogenized egg without the need for pre- or postenrichment steps. Serovar Enteritidis was detected in the presence of other bacteria when outcompeted 1:400.

Bacterial strains isolated from eggs and their resistance to currently used antibiotics: is there a health hazard for consumers?

In order to study the putative transfer of antibiotic resistance from poultry to humans, hens' eggs were examined for the presence of various pathogens. Staphylococcus, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Proteus and Pseudomonas spp. were the most frequently isolated genera. Sensitivity tests, performed with the Kirby-Bauer technique, showed the presence of resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (to penicillin-G, tetracycline, erythromycin, clindamycin, cefalosporins, oxacillin, gentamycin, chloramphenicol and tobramycin), Enterococcus faecalis (to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, gentamycin and tetracyclin), Escherichia coli (to tetracycline, erythromycin, ampicillin and cefalosporins), Enterobacter cloacae (to ampicillin, amoxycillin plus clavunalic acid, erythromycin and tetracycline), Pseudomonas stutzeri (to erythromycin and chlorampenicol) and Citrobacter freundii (to ampicillin, amoxycillin plus clavunalic acid, cefalosporins and co-trimoxazole).

Contamination of egg shell and contents with Salmonella enteritidis: a review

Salmonella enteritidis can contaminate the contents of clean, intact shell eggs as a result of infections of the reproductive tissue of laying hens. The principal site of infection would appear to be the upper oviduct. In egg contents the most important sites of contamination are either the outside of the vitelline membrane or the albumen surrounding it. In fresh eggs, only few salmonellas are present and as albumen is an iron-restricted environment, growth will only occur once storage-related changes to vitelline membrane permeability, which allow salmonellas to invade yolk contents, have taken place. When this happens high populations are achieved in both yolk contents and albumen. Some eggs from naturally infected hens have been found to contain large numbers of S. enteritidis. The rate of change in membrane permeability is temperature-dependent. In eggs stored at 20 degrees C, yolk invasion is uncommon until eggs have been stored for 3 weeks. In stimulated kitchen conditions where temperatures reached 30 degrees C, salmonellas could grow rapidly after a few days.

Persistence of contamination of hens' egg albumen in vitro with Salmonella serotypes

A study was made of the persistence of different Salmonella serotypes in hens' egg albumin in vitro at 4, 20 and 30 degrees C. The majority of serotypes remained viable but did not increase in numbers at 20 and 30 degrees C for 42 days. At 4 degrees C many of the serotypes died out. The addition of ferric ammonium citrate on the 42nd day of incubation induced multiplication of organisms incubated at 20 and 30 degrees C, but not at 4 degrees C. The pH and glucose concentration of the albumen diminished only when heavy growth occurred. Salmonella enteritidis remained viable on the air cell membrane in vitro for 17 days at 4, 20 and 30 degrees C. Thirty percent of the organisms also remained motile in albumen for 42 days at 25 degrees C and up to 5% of the cells remained motile for up to 20 days at 4 degrees C.