Leading Research: in Food Safety
Food safety is a key issue for both consumers and egg farmers and is critical to maintaining confidence in eggs as a staple food.
Work to date has demonstrated that it is possible to minimise risks arising on-farm to a very low level and this work will continue through both research and communications activities.
There remains an even greater potential to assist in managing food safety risks arising in the post-farm egg value chain by continuing to facilitate dialogue between the egg industry, food safety regulators and end-users of eggs and egg products.
The positive health and nutritional benefits of eggs to humans will continue to be characterised and disseminated. By investing in RD&E we intend to reduce food safety issues, increase consumer confidence and consumption and enhance industry credibility.
Key Resources
Current Research
Investigating improved rodent control strategies
Researchers will work closely with industry to develop innovative, economical strategies for efficient rodent management. The strategies will be trialled on participating egg farms and the outcomes and learnings will be communicated to industry.
Review of literature for understanding eggs contamination during cold-chain transportation
This scope of this project is to determine if various lower storage temperatures will mitigate the
growth of Salmonella Enteritis and Salmonella Typhimurium. The work will involve literature
review, use of specific scientific databases, and collaboration with scientists to ensure accurate
information is gathered.Protecting Australia's poultry using genetic restoration
In this proof of concept study, researchers will attempt to embed genetic material from other poultry species into the layer hen genome. The specific genetic material relates to Avian influenza resistance so there is the potential that it could do the same for the layer hen.
Completed Research
An Egg: Salmonella Quantitative Risk Assessment Model
A quantitative risk assessment of Salmonella contamination of eggs in
Australia, through the development of a tool to predict how changes in industry practices
may impact on the occurrence of Salmonellosis in humans.National Food Safety Risk Profile of Eggs and Egg Products
This report set out to identify the following; hazards that enter any point of the food chain for eggs and egg products, potential management strategies for the identified high risk hazards, and product/pathogen combinations in which further risk analysis might be required by risk managers.
Egg and Egg Shell Quality in the Australian Egg Industry
This project produced a booklet that provides guidelines on egg internal quality and egg shell quality for the Australian Egg Industry.Until the production of the booklet arising from this project, there has been no common standard against which producers and other industry personnel could compare egg quality.
Distribution and expression of the 14 kDa fimbrial gene among Salmonella Enteritidis isolates and potential as diagnostic and epidemiological tools
This 12-month study (1993-1994) aimed to capitalise on prior observations and develop a novel strategy for rapid identification of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis in egg and egg products based on detection of DNA sequences encoding SEF14.
Projects you might find interesting
Traceability for the egg industry
Robust traceability systems are critical to ensuring that in the event of egg quality and food safety issues, the correct farms, specific production areas or sheds can be efficiently identified, and steps taken to rectify concerns.
Salmonella Enteritidis Response Plan- An Approach to Salmonella Enteritidis Detection
This report provides a guideline for industry response in the event of a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak.
Salmonella Incidence Response Plan- A National Approach to Salmonella Outbreaks
The Salmonella Incidence Response Plan (SIRP) collates all information in a single document and provides a structured and coherent response framework to be followed when a farm had been implicated in a foodborne outbreak.
Through-Chain Salmonella Risk Identification
Effective response and management of salmonella challenges in the egg industry developed to defend the egg category, increase the strength of the egg brand and facilitate access to new markets.