Everything You Need to Know About Egg Products
Eggs are a nutritious and versatile food that offer a broad range of culinary delights and dietary benefits. Overtime, researchers have found ways to modify eggs and make them available to a more diverse group of consumers. These modified eggs are known as egg products. These products typically consist of the whole egg, the white, yolk, and more. They offer an array of benefits to both consumers, manufacturers, and bakers. Moving forward, we will explore everything there is to know concerning these products.What are Egg Products?Modified eggs can be different types of refined eggs for public consumption, and industrial applications. The products can either be whole egg extracts, whites, liquid eggs, or yolks. Other options of egg products include scrambled eggs mixes, meringue powder, omelet mixes, protein powder, and albumen powder.Egg products have multiple applications including for baking pastries, sporting nutrition, cooking, and cosmetic purposes. Egg products typically offer consumers variations of nutrients, convenience, and versatility which make them an option in multiple sectors and homes.
What Egg Product Types Are Available?
We will highlight each kind of egg products below:
Whole eggs
Egg extracts can either come as fresh, frozen whole eggs or dried eggs. No content of the egg itself is extracted when processing whole eggs. These egg alternatives are specifically created for baking pastries, direct consumption, and cooking.
Liquid eggs
Liquid egg extracts are either pasteurized or extensively pasteurized eggs. They can also come as unpasteurized liquid eggs. These products are basically used to manufacture processed food, for cooking, and for baking.
Frozen eggs
Frozen egg extracts can either come as white, whole eggs extract, or the egg yolk alone and are typically used for cooking, baking, or to manufacture processed food. The process of preparing these egg products involves freezing the egg or the extracts.
Egg white extracts
Egg whites are called egg products that come in either powdered, liquid, or concentrated form. Egg whites can come in handy in cooking, baking, cosmetics production, and sports nutrition. Some examples of these products come with egg protein powder, whites in liquid form, and many more.
Dehydrated egg products
This egg product can come as powdered eggs, or flaked eggs and is mainly used as an emergency food supply, for camping, and manufacturing or processed food. It involves drying the eggs until they become powder.
Egg yolk products
Egg yolk products like dehydrated eggs, can come in powdered form. They are also made in liquid form and concentrated yolks. This egg product is mainly used for cooking, baking, and in the manufacture of processed foods. Here, the egg yolks are either frozen or dried before packaging.
Omelet mix
This egg product consists of mixed eggs, veggies, and spices to make the preparation of omelets more convenient. It is usually used for camping and emergency food preparation. Consumers can prepare their meals on the road or at home with omelet mixes.
Scrambled egg combination
This egg product consists of milk, pre-mixed eggs, and spices. It is typically used in the cooking of scrambled eggs and can come in handy for campers or people who are in need of emergency food.
Egg Products: Benefits
There are tons of benefits of egg products including the following:
Egg products offer convenience
Egg products typically offer consumers a convenient way to make emergency dishes and eat. This application relates to premixed egg products including omelets and scrambled whole eggs.
Egg products are a great source of protein
Egg white products are pure protein and highly recommended. An average egg white per whole egg contains about 3.6 G of protein which makes it a good protein source.
Some egg products have low caloric content
It has been found that some egg products, particularly egg white products contain just 17 calories per whole egg which is okay for the daily calorie consumption for humans.
Egg products include lots of vitamins and minerals
Egg whites are one egg product that include lots of vitamins and minerals including vitamin D, vitamin B12, and vitamin B12. They also contain high levels of minerals like magnesium and potassium.
Egg products are good antioxidants
Egg products, especially egg whites, can be an excellent source of antioxidants. They are rich in antioxidants like ovotransferrin and lysozyme, which make them a healthy food option.
Egg products support muscle building
Muscle builders can use egg whites to grow their muscles. People who engage in high intensity exercise can also use egg whites for muscle recovery because of the high protein content of egg white products.
Egg Products: Uses
Egg products have different applications and uses. For example, egg products can be used to bake products like macarons, cakes, and cookies. Egg products like omelet mixes can be used for cooking scrambled eggs, egg omelets, egg soup, and frittata. The protein powder egg products are used as dietary supplements for muscle builders. Egg products can also be used for cosmetic purposes including skincare, and in the manufacture of hair products. Finally, egg products can be used in the production of vaccines and in medical studies.
How Are Egg Products Made?
Below are several processes involved in the manufacture of egg products:
- Splitting and separating of eggs, egg whites, and egg yolks to prepare different egg products.
- Egg pasteurization is done to kill any bacteria in the eggs. The process involves applying a little amount of heat that doesn't alter or change the state of liquid eggs.
- Egg whites can be either filtered or purified to meet the needs of a specific consumer group.
In some cases, eggs are frozen or dehydrated to preserve them during the manufacturing of processed foods.
More Facts About Egg Products
While egg products are an excellent food choice, they must meet specific regulation to be considered safe for consumption and other uses. Some of these regulations include:
- Egg products must follow the organic standard set by the USDA.
- Egg products must be non-genetically modified to be considered safe for consumption.
- Egg products must be certified gluten free before they enter the market.
- Egg products must meet the dietary recommendations of specific consumer groups including the dietary needs of the Muslim and Jewish people.
- The FDA stipulates that egg products must be made via safe processes and handled in a healthy way before packaging.
Conclusion
From the above we can agree that egg products offer convenience, versatility, variety, and lots of nutritional benefits. It is essential to understand the meaning, uses, benefits, and the process of manufacturing egg products before acquiring them. This way you'll be qualified to make a well informed decision when shopping for egg products.