WINNIPEG (Staff) – The U.S. egg industry is cracking, literally, because more customers want processed eggs rather than eggs in the shell.
Representatives of the U.S. company that supplies Burger King and the giant Marriott hotel chain with eggs were here last week to give Manitoba egg producers and their marketing board tips on the processing industry.
Dean Sprinkle, vice-president at Michael Foods in Minneapolis, Minn., said his company does 83 percent of its business in processed eggs, which are pasteurized and delivered as liquids in a carton, frozen or ‘slush’ in huge containers or powdered.
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Harold Froese, chair of the Manitoba Egg Producers Marketing Board, said the Canadian market has opposite egg needs: 83 percent are sold in the shell and the rest are processed.
Sprinkle said one of the main reasons for the shift away from shell eggs is that “People eat more of their eggs at the drive-through.” Processed eggs work well in fast-food and industrial settings.
It’s faster and cheaper to pour eggs than crack them. His company’s tests show the cost of labor for breaking eggs is about 17 cents (U.S.) each.
Processed eggs are more easily portioned, last longer and are easier to store.
