Product Quality

Producing quality poultry and fresh eggs is key to gaining and maintaining consumer confidence. Penn State Extension can provide valuable tips and up-to-date information about the best ways to manage chicken and turkey flocks while meeting HACCP standards. Producers can find information on laying chickens, egg quality, egg handling, and poultry meat quality.

Egg Freshness: Raw Eggs, Egg Pasteurization, and Shelf Life

Those interested in small-scale egg production can find practical advice on molting, as well as information about brown versus white layers, the optimal temperature of storing collected eggs, labeling, and egg weight classes. Two sample budgets, for small-scale conventional and organic egg production, are also presented.

The first step to ensuring quality eggs is to provide layers with a clean and safe environment. There are also detailed tips on how to organize the coop and nests, how to collect, clean and store eggs so they maintain the best quality for longer, and how to grade them.

Additional advice on layer house management, coop and nest management, and proper egg cleaning and handling is available here.

HACCP in the Egg Industry

The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is the best science-based approach to reduce the risk of harmful pathogens affecting flocks and to ensure consistent high-quality of all poultry products.

One of the most important risks it can reduce is exposure and contamination with Salmonella bacteria. The HACCP in the egg industry manual discusses the three main hazards for contaminating fresh eggs: contaminated poultry houses, rodents, and pullet chicks.

Biosecurity risk factors, cleaning procedures, rodent control measures, and methods of producing clean pullet chicks are all described in detail. Another key control method that ensures safety is egg monitoring and random sampling. The results of this procedure determine which eggs will be sold as farm fresh eggs versus pasteurized eggs.

Poultry Meat Quality

A number of poultry quality control measures aim to ensure the safety of poultry meat and to help growers produce quality chicken products. Different rules apply to different growers and producers depending on how the chickens were grown and slaughtered. This section contains information about slaughtering methods, regulatory requirements, and exemptions.

Growers and producers who would like to deepen their knowledge may want to consider attending the Pennsylvania Poultry Sales and Services Conference and Northeast Conference on Avian Diseases. The event will offer participants the chance to hear from top specialists in the field and learn more about producing quality poultry, raising and handling layers, broilers, and turkeys, avian diseases and other specialized topics.