Genetic research could mean safer chicken eggs and stronger shells for consumers.
Max Hincke, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Ottawa, is looking at ways to strengthen eggshells and reduce the risk of salmonella contamination in uncooked food.
Egg shells are made from minerals and protein.
Hincke and a team of researchers are investigating how genes that create proteins in eggshells influence shell strength.
“Research shows proteins can influence the organization of minerals. That impacts on shell strength,” Hincke said.
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The team has identified genes for 10 proteins that influence shell formation.
That information will give chicken breeders the tools within a few years to breed for chickens that will produce eggs with stronger shells for consumers, but eggs that still allow chicks to hatch.
Noting how shell strength wanes in birds in their final months of laying, Hincke said he hopes his research will lead to more stable layers over a longer time frame. He also hopes to reduce the risk of the egg yolk being contaminated through small cracks.
“Eventually, we hope our work will allow the industry to make improvements and give them the tools to make improvements,” he said.
Egg producers lose about six to eight percent of their production to breaks and cracks, said Gord Speksnijder, research co-ordinator with the Poultry Industry Council, which helped fund Hincke’s research.
“Of course they want to get rid of that,” he said, echoing Hincke’s concerns about cracks eroding the egg’s natural barriers to pathogens.
