Egg safety tips for Australian Food Safety Week

November 13th , 2019 by Monika Australia & Asia Pacific

Eggs are an Australian food favourite. But they come with a number of food safety risks.

This nutritious food is the theme of Australian Food Safety Week 2019, so below we’re going to highlight some things you can do to store, handle and serve them safely – with the help of your Monika system.

Tip #1: Record any quality issues associated with an egg delivery in your Monika Smart PA

When you receive an egg delivery, do a thorough quality check. Did you get a batch of cracked or dirty eggs? If so, it’s safest to discard them. Make a note of this when you record the delivery in your Monika Smart PA. This will keep a record of any quality issues with your supplier and prompt you to follow it up with them.

Tip #2: Monitor the performance of your refrigerated units using Monika sensors and software

Did you know that egg shells are porous, which means that salmonella bacteria can enter the egg when moisture is present? Fluctuations in temperature can cause eggs to ‘sweat’ through condensation of water droplets on the shell. For this reason, eggs must be stored at a consistent temperature in cardboard containers. Avoid moving them to and from refrigerated conditions.

For this reason, it’s best practice to use a live monitoring system that simulates product temperature so that you know if your eggs may have moved out of, then back into, safe range when unattended.

Eggs should be stored at or below 5 degrees in the coldest part of the refrigerator, away from the door. Using your Monika system, you can set an acceptable temperature limit and recovery timeframe for units that store eggs. Alarms can be triggered if these are exceeded, and escalated if not addressed, so you know when you need to discard a batch.

Tip #3: Use your Monika Smart PA to assign hygiene and temperature-related tasks associated with eggs

Good hygiene cannot be underestimated when it comes to handling and preparing eggs. This prevents cross-contamination, or the spread of bacteria from one food or piece of equipment to another.

It’s also important to cook eggs thoroughly to destroy bacteria. For eggs, the white will coagulate (set) between 62.2 and 65°C, the yolk between 65 and 70°C, and whole egg between 62.2 and 70° C. Source: Egg Safety Center

For example, if you prepare a large batch of eggs at a certain time each day (say for cake-making or scrambled eggs), you can set a daily task reminder to wash any equipment or surfaces that come into contact with the eggs (mixers, egg separators, hands and so on).

The Smart PA can also be programmed to prompt temperature checks when you routinely cook eggs, say for breakfast each day. These checks are done with Monika’s Bluetooth Smart Probe, which communicates instantly with the Smart PA to record temperatures associated with that batch of eggs.

These tasks can be assigned to a specific area and person. The Smart PA provides audible and visual prompts for the user to perform the task at the set time, along with step-by-step task instructions.

We hope you found these tips useful. If you have any questions about how you can use our digital food safety systems to ensure the safety of your eggs, give us a call on 1300 857 025 or contact us.