Research progress and prospect of egg shelf-life

Egg, which is rich in nutrition, is an important source of animal protein for human and its role in our diet is irreplaceable. With consumers’ increasing awareness of nutrition and health, the quality and safety of egg has received growing attention. The concept and standards of the egg shelf-life, quality and safety indicators such as haugh unit, mass loss rate, yolk index and the content of microorganism and affecting factors, such as temperature, vibration, microbial infection, were reviewed, and the technology used to prolong the egg shelf-life including cleaning and coating, gas regulating packaging and low temperature storage were summarized. Future research directions on egg quality and its shelf-life were presented at the end of this paper.