Egg (food)

An egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of many animals, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves. Most edible eggs, including bird eggs and turtle eggs, consist of a protective, oval eggshell, the albumen ( egg white), the vitellus ( egg yolk), and various thin membranes. Every part is edible, although the eggshell is generally discarded. Nutritionally, eggs are considered a good source of protein and choline.

Roe and caviar are edible eggs produced by fish.

Culinary use

Bird eggs are a common food and one of the most versatile ingredients used in cooking. They are important in many branches of the modern food industry. The most commonly used bird eggs are those from the chicken. Duck and goose eggs, and smaller eggs such as quail eggs are occasionally used as a gourmet ingredient, as are the largest bird eggs, from ostriches. Gull eggs are considered a delicacy in England, as well as in Scandinavian countries, particularly in Norway. In some African countries, guineafowl eggs are commonly seen in marketplaces, especially in the spring of each year. Pheasant eggs and emu eggs are perfectly edible but less widely available. Sometimes they are obtainable from farmers, poulterers, or luxury grocery stores. Most wild birds’ eggs are protected by laws in many countries, which prohibit collecting or selling them, or only permit these during specific periods of the year.

Most commercially produced chicken eggs intended for human consumption are unfertilized, since the laying hens are kept without roosters. Fertile eggs can be purchased and eaten as well, with little nutritional difference. Fertile eggs will not contain a developed embryo, as refrigeration prohibits cellular growth for an extended amount of time.

Chicken eggs are widely used in many types of dishes, both sweet and savory. Eggs can be pickled, hard-boiled, scrambled, fried and refrigerated. They can also be eaten raw, though this is not recommended for people who may be especially susceptible to salmonella, such as the elderly, the infirm, or pregnant women. In addition, the protein in raw eggs is only 51% bio-available, whereas that of a cooked egg is nearer 91% bio-available, meaning the protein of cooked eggs is nearly twice as absorbable as the protein from raw eggs. As an ingredient, egg yolks are important emulsifier in the kitchen, and the proteins in eggs white makes all kinds of foams and aerated dishes possible.

Quail eggs are considered a delicacy in many countries. They are used raw or cooked as tamago in sushi. In Colombia, quail eggs are considered less exotic than in other countries, and a single hard-boiled quail egg is a common topping on hot dogs and hamburgers, often fixed into place with a toothpick.

A boiled egg can be distinguished from a raw egg without breaking the shell by spinning it. A hard-boiled egg's contents are solid due to the denaturation of the protein, allowing it to spin freely, while viscous dissipation in the liquid contents of a raw egg causes it to stop spinning within approximately three rotations.

The albumen, or egg white contains protein but little or no fat. It is used in cooking separately from the yolk, and can be aerated or whipped to a light, fluffy consistency. The albumen is the healthiest bit of the egg. Beaten egg whites are used in desserts such as meringues and mousse. Ground egg shells are sometimes used as a food additive to deliver calcium. Boiled eggs that are difficult to peel are usually too fresh. Fresh eggs have a lower pH, and this does not allow the shell to separate easily from the underlying albumen. When put into vinegar the shell will dissolve slowly.

Flavour

Although the age of egg and the conditions of its storage have a greater influence, the bird's diet does affect the flavor of egg. For example, when a brown-egg chicken breed eats rapeseed or soy meals, its intestinal microbes metabolize them into fishy-smelling triethylamine, which ends up in the egg. The unpredictable diet of free-range hens will produce unpredictable eggs.

Problems with cooking

If a boiled egg is overcooked, a greenish ring sometimes appears around egg yolk. This is a manifestation of the iron and sulfur compounds in the egg. It can also occur when there is an abundance of iron in the cooking water. The green ring does not affect the egg's taste; overcooking, however, harms the quality of the protein (chilling the egg for a few minutes in cold water until the egg is completely cooled prevents the greenish "ring” from forming on the surface of the yolk).

Cooking also increases the risk of atherosclerosis due to increased oxidization of the cholesterol contained in the egg yolk.

Substitutes

For those who do not consume eggs, alternatives used in baking include other rising agents or binding materials, such as ground flax seeds or potato flour. Tofu can also act as a partial binding agent, since it is high in lecithin due to its soy content. Applesauce can be used as well as arrowroot and banana. Extracted soybean lecithin, in turn, is often used in packaged foods as an inexpensive substitute for egg-derived lecithin.

Other egg substitutes are made from just the white of the egg for those who worry about the high cholesterol and fat content in eggs. These products usually have added vitamins and minerals as well as vegetable-based emulsifiers and thickeners such as xantham gum or guar gum. These allow the product to maintain the nutrition found in an egg as well as several culinary properties of real eggs. This makes it possible for food like Hollandaise sauce, custard, mayonnaise, as well as most baked goods to be prepared using these substitutes.

Preservation

Preservation of edible eggs is extremely important, as an improperly handled egg can contain salmonella, a bacteria that can cause severe food poisoning. The simplest method to preserve an egg is to treat it with salt. Salt draws water out of bacteria and molds, which prevents their growth. The Chinese salted duck egg is made by immersing duck eggs in brine, or coating them individually with a paste of salt and mud or clay. The eggs stop absorbing salt after about a month, having reached chemical equilibrium. Their yolks become an orange-red colored solid, but the white remains liquid. They are boiled before consumption and often served with rice congee.

Another method is to make pickled eggs, by boiling them first and immersing them in a mixture of vinegar, salt, and spices like ginger or allspice. Frequently, beetroot juice is added to impart a red color to the eggs. If the eggs are immersed in it for a few hours, the distinct red, white, and yellow colors can be seen when the eggs are sliced. If marinated for several days or more, the red colour will reach to the yolk. If the eggs are marinated in the mixture for several weeks or more, vinegar's acetic acid will dissolve much of the shell's calcium carbonate and penetrate the egg, making it acidic enough to inhibit the growth of bacteria and molds. Pickled eggs made this way will generally keep for a year or more without refrigeration.

A century egg or thousand-year-old egg is preserved by fermenting an egg in a mixture of clay, wood ash, salt, lime, and rice straw for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. After the process is completed, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odour of sulfur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with a comparatively mild, distinct flavor. The transforming agent in a century egg is its alkaline material, which gradually raises the pH of the egg from around 9 to 12 or more. This chemical process causes an "inorganic version" of fermentation, which breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats of the yolk into simpler, flavorful ones.

History

Bird eggs have been valuable foodstuff since prehistory, in both hunting societies and more recent cultures where birds were domesticated. In Thebes, Egypt, the tomb of Haremhab, built about 1420 BCE, shows a depiction of a man carrying bowls of ostrich eggs and other large eggs, presumably those of the pelican, as offerings. In ancient Rome, eggs were preserved using a number of methods, and meals often started with an egg course. The Romans crushed the shell in their plate to prevent evil spirits from hiding there. In the Middle Ages, eggs were forbidden during Lent because of their richness. It is possible that the word mayonnaise was derived from moyeu, the medieval French word for the yolk meaning centre or hub.

Egg scrambled with acidic fruit juices were popular in France in the 17th century; this may have been the origin of lemon curd.

The dried egg industry developed in the 19th century, before the rise of the frozen egg industry. In 1878, a company in St. Louis, Missouri started to transform egg yolk and white into a light-brown, meal-like substance by using a drying process. The production of dried eggs significantly expanded during World War II, for use by the United States Armed Forces and its allies.

The egg carton was invented by Joseph Coyle in Smithers, British Columbia, to solve a dispute about broken eggs between a farmer in Bulkley Valley and the owner of the Aldermere Hotel. Early egg cartons were made of paper.

Anatomy and characteristics

The shape of an egg is an ovate spheroid with one end larger than the other end. The egg has cylindrical symmetry along the long axis.

An egg is surrounded by a thin, hard shell. Inside, the egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae (from the Greek word khalazi, meaning hailstone or hard lump.)

Air cell

The larger end of the egg contains the air cell that forms when the contents of the egg cool down and contract after it is laid. Chicken eggs are graded according to the size of this air cell, measured during candling. A very fresh egg has a small air cell and receives a grade of AA. As the size of the air cell increases, and the quality of the egg decreases, the grade moves from AA to A to B. This provides a way of testing the age of an egg: as the air cell increases in size, the egg becomes less dense and the larger end of the egg will rise to increasingly shallower depths when the egg is placed in a bowl of water. A very old egg will actually float in the water and should not be eaten.

Shell

Egg shell colour is caused by pigment deposition during egg formation in the oviduct and can vary according to species and breed, from the more common white or brown to pink or speckled blue-green. In general, chicken breeds with white ear lobes lay white eggs, whereas chickens with red ear lobes lay brown eggs. Although there is no significant link between shell color and nutritional value, there is often a cultural preference for one colour over another. For example, in most regions of the United States, chicken eggs are generally white; while in the northeast of that country and in the United Kingdom, they are generally light-brown. In Brazil and Poland, white chicken eggs are generally regarded as industrial, and brown or reddish ones are preferred.

White (Albumen)

Yolk

The yolk in a newly laid egg is round and firm. As the yolk ages it absorbs water from the albumen which increases its size and causes it to stretch and weaken the vitelline membrane (the clear casing enclosing the yolk). The resulting effect is a flattened and enlarged yolk shape.

Yolk colour is dependent on the diet of the hen; if the diet contains yellow/orange plant pigments known as xanthophylls, then they are deposited in the yolk, coloring it. A colorless diet can produce an almost colorless yolk. Farmers may enhance yolk colour with artificial pigments, or with natural supplements rich in lutein ( marigold petals are a popular choice), but in most locations, this activity is forbidden.

Abnormalities

Some hens will lay double-yolked eggs as the result of unsynchronized production cycles. Although heredity causes some hens to have a higher propensity to lay double-yolked eggs, these occur more frequently as occasional abnormalities in young hens beginning to lay. Usually a double-yolked egg will be longer and thinner than an ordinary single-yolk egg. Double-yolked eggs occur rarely, only leading to observed successful hatchings under human intervention, as the unborn chickens would otherwise fight each other and die.

It is also possible for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all. Yolkless eggs are usually formed about a bit of tissue that is sloughed off the ovary or oviduct. This tissue stimulates the secreting glands of the oviduct and a yolkless egg results.

Health issues of eating chicken eggs

Cholesterol and fat

More than half the calories found in eggs come from the fat in the yolk; a 100 gram chicken egg contains approximately 10 grams of fat. People on a low-cholesterol diet may need to reduce egg consumption, although only 27% of the fat in egg is saturated fat (Palmitic,Stearic and Myristic acids) that contains LDL cholesterol. The egg white consists primarily of water (87%) and protein (13%) and contains no cholesterol and little, if any, fat.

There is debate over whether egg yolk presents a health risk. Some research suggests dietary cholesterol increases the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol and, therefore, adversely affects the body's cholesterol profile; whereas other studies show that moderate consumption of eggs, up to two per day, does not appear to increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals. Harold McGee argues that the cholesterol in the yolk is not what causes a problem as fat (particularly saturated) is much more likely to raise cholesterol levels than the actual consumption of cholesterol. A 2007 study of nearly 10,000 adults demonstrated no correlation between moderate (6 per week) egg consumption and cardiovascular disease or strokes except in the sub-population of diabetic patients which presented an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Other research supports the idea that a high egg intake increases cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients. However, some "no correlation" findings have come under attack by independent observers for flawed methodology and financial ties to the egg industry.

Contamination

A health issue associated with eggs is contamination by pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella enteritidis. Contamination of eggs exiting a female bird via the cloaca may also occur with other members of the Salmonella group, so care must be taken to avoid the egg shell becoming contaminated with fecal matter. In commercial practice, eggs are quickly washed with a sanitizing solution within minutes of being laid. The risk of infection from raw or undercooked eggs is dependent in part upon the sanitary conditions under which the hens are kept.

Health experts advise people to refrigerate eggs, use them within two weeks, cook them thoroughly, and never consume raw eggs . As with meat, containers and surfaces that have been used to process raw eggs should not come in contact with ready-to-eat food.

A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2002 (Risk Analysis April 2002 22(2):203-18) suggests the problem is not as prevalent as once thought. It showed that of the 69 billion eggs produced annually, only 2.3 million of them are contaminated with salmonella - equivalent to just one in every 30,000 eggs - thus showing that salmonella infection is quite rarely induced by eggs. However, this has not been the case in other countries where Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium infections due to egg consumptions are major concerns ^{, ,} .

Egg shells act as hermetic seals which guard against bacteria entering, but this seal can be broken through improper handling or if laid by unhealthy chickens. Most forms of contamination enter through such weaknesses in the shell.

Food allergy

One of the most common food allergies in infants is eggs. Infants usually have the opportunity to grow out of this allergy during childhood, if exposure is minimized. Generally, physicians will recommend feeding only the yolks to infants because of the higher risk of allergic reaction to the egg white.

The egg allergy is prevalent enough in the United States that food labeling practices now include eggs, egg products and the processing of foods on equipment that also process foods containing eggs in a special allergen alert section of the ingredients on the labels.

Issues in mass production

Commercial factory farming operations often involve raising the hens in small crowded cages, preventing the chickens from engaging in natural behaviors such as wing-flapping, dust-bathing, scratching, pecking, perching and nest-building. Such restrictions can lead to pacing and escape behaviour.

Many hens confined to battery cages, and some raised in cage-free conditions, are de-beaked to prevent harming each other and cannibalism. According to critics of the practice, this can cause hens severe pain to the point where some may refuse to eat and starve to death. Some hens may be force molted to increase egg quality and production level after the molting. Molting can be induced by extended feed withdrawal, water withdrawal or controlled lighting programs.

Laying hens are often slaughtered between 100 - 130 weeks of age when their egg productivity starts to decline. Due to modern selective breeding, laying hen strains differ from meat production strains. As male birds of the laying strain do not lay eggs and are not suitable for meat production, they are generally culled at the hatchery.

Free-range eggs are considered by some advocates to be an acceptable substitute to factory farmed eggs. Free range laying hens are given outdoor access instead of being contained in crowded cages. Questions on the actual living conditions of free range hens have been raised as there is no legal definition or regulations for eggs labeled as free range in the US.

In the US, increased public concern for animal welfare has pushed various egg producers to release eggs under a variety of different standards. The most widespread standard in use is used by United Egg Producers and is a volunteer program known as United Egg Producers Certified(UEP Certified). The program includes guidelines with regard to housing, feed, water, air, space allowance, beak trimming, molting, handling, and transportation; however, critics such as The Humane Society have alleged UEP Certification misleadingly allows for a significant amount of animal cruelty. Other standards include "Cage Free", "Natural", "Certified Humane", and "Certified Organic." Of these standards, "Certified Humane", which carries requirements for stocking density and cage-free keeping, among others, and "Certified Organic", which requires hens have outdoor access and are fed only organic, vegetarian feed, among other requirements, are the most stringent.

Cultural influences

A popular Easter tradition in some parts of the world is the decoration of hard-boiled eggs (usually by dyeing but often by spray-painting). Adults often hide the eggs for children to find, an activity known as an Easter egg hunt. A similar tradition of egg painting exists in areas of the world influenced by the culture of Persia. Before the spring equinox in the Persian New Year tradition (called Norouz), each family member decorates a hard-boiled egg and sets them together in a bowl.

Although a food item, eggs are sometimes thrown at houses, cars, or people generally on Halloween. This act, known commonly as egging in the various English-speaking countries, is a minor form of vandalism and, therefore, usually a criminal offense and is capable of damaging property (egg whites can degrade certain types of vehicle paint) as well as causing serious eye injury. On Halloween, for example, trick or treaters have been known to throw eggs (and sometimes flour) at property or people from whom they received nothing. Eggs are also often thrown in protests, as they are inexpensive and nonlethal, yet at the same time very messy when broken.