PHYSICOFUNTIONAL PROPERTIES OF EGG POWDER AS INFLUENCED BY DRYING METHODS

The study was carried out to determine the physical and functional properties of whole egg powder produced using four drying methods. Twenty (20) trays of freshly laid eggs were obtained from Shika brown layers at 27 weeks at lay. The eggs were alloted into four drying methods (sun, air, oven and dehydrator drying).Each 500grams of liquid egg produce a range of 122 – 125grams of egg flask which were grinded for 5min egg at a speed of 10,000Rm and sieved using a 0.5mm. A powder of 120grams was produce from each batch of 500grams of liquid and a total 1200grams of powdered eggs were obtained for each of the methods. 2 grams of each samples in a replicate of three using a complete randomize design (CRD) was collected and used for physical and functional properties of whole egg powder. The results of the study show there were significant difference across all the parameters measured except for gelation, colour absorbance and particle size The Functional properties of the powder differs (P < 0.05) across all the drying methods except for emulsion capacity, gelation and oil absorption stability. Dehydrator and air-dried egg powder were better than oven and sun dried egg powder in most of the physical and functional properties determined. It is concluded that egg powder can be produced using any of the process method tested but air drying gives optimize overall properties while oven drying happen to be the least among the methods. It is recommended that egg powder should be produce using air drying method.