Egg (food)

This article is an overview of the egg as a food. For information on chicken eggs, see ibid.

Different eggs on a Chinese food market

The egg is a natural product that as food for its nutritional value , mainly because of the content of high quality proteins , since the beginning of human history, an important food is.

General

In the past eggs were collected or hoarded , today the provision of eggs in the industrialized countries is mostly part of the food industry . Mainly chicken eggs are produced, which are then offered and processed as a whole (shell eggs), as liquid eggs or dried as powdered eggs . Liquid egg is either whole egg or its components egg yolk (egg yolk) and egg white (egg white).

Eggs are foods that have special requirements for transport , storage and processing. Health hazards exist, for example, from salmonella , which can get from the surface of the egg shell into the finished food during processing. For these reasons, the handling of eggs is strictly regulated by law, in Germany for example by the Animal Food Hygiene Ordinance (Tier- LMHV ), and in many places there is an obligation to label eggs .

Eggs used as food

African ostrich, domestic chicken and quail eggs in size comparison

Chicken eggs in particular are used for human consumption, but also other bird eggs :

• Quail eggs from the quail
• Duck eggs from ducks - especially in East Asia
• Domestic goose eggs
• Ostrich eggs - widespread in southern Africa , breeding worldwide
• Emu eggs as a source of protein for the Aborigines

The eggs of wild and / or difficult to cultivate animal species were and are used for food purposes, which in some cases led to a significant decimation of the species to extinction and, now, to protective measures for the animal species concerned:

• Lapwing eggs - formerly a delicacy in Central Europe
• Turtle eggs , especially sea ​​turtles , which are endangered as a result
• Sturgeon eggs ( roe ) as caviar
• Other species of fish roe than false caviar
• Sea urchin eggs as a uni delicacy - especially in Japan
• Survivors with the eggs (or sperm) of Samoa Palolo - a delicacy and aphrodisiac in parts of the South Pacific
• Ant eggs - a delicacy in Southeast Asia

See also

• Egg in culture
• Egg substitute
• Pole egg

literature

• Waldemar Ternes , Ludwig Acker , Siegfried Scholtyssek: Egg and Egg Products , Hamburg and Berlin 1994, ISBN 978-386-0-224-045

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rainer Köthe , Der Urmensch , Tessloff Verlag Nürnberg, 2003, p. 23, ISBN 978-3788602499
2. ↑ PressBot, December 14, 2008: The food of primitive men in the Stone Age , accessed July 11, 2012, from: Ernst Probst : Records of primitive men , Grin Verlag, 1st edition 2008, ISBN 978-3640146390
3. ↑ Dieter E. Zimmer, Rowohlt TB-V., Rnb. (April 1986): Chickens - Animals or Protein Machines? , ISBN 978-3860224045
4. ↑ Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV), as of November 10, 2011: Ordinance on hygiene requirements for the production, treatment and marketing of certain foods of animal origin (Animal Food Hygiene Ordinance - Tier-LMHV) , PDF, accessed 24 . March 2013