Hard-Cooked Egg Shelf Life

Abstract

Hard-cooked eggs were stored under six different home storage conditions: in the shell 1) at room temperature, 2) at room temperature for 48 h and then at 4 C, 3) at 4 C; and without the shell 4) at 4 C in a plastic container, 5) at 4 C in water, and 6) at 4 C in a .1% sodium benzoate solution. During the 28-day storage experiment, eggs were sampled twice a week for total aerobic plate counts and were evaluated by a sensory panel for appearance, aroma, apparent age, off flavor, and overall acceptability.Storage of hard-cooked eggs at room temperature allowed rapid bacterial growth; those eggs had a distinct spoilage off-odor after less than a week of storage. Eggs that were stored at room temperature for 2 days and then transferred to a refrigerator had a shelf life of 1 wk during the summer, or slightly longer if the room temperature was cooler during the winter. Keeping eggs under refrigeration markedly increased their shelf life, especially those stored in the shell. Peeling the eggs decreased storage stability at 4 C by almost 40% compared with eggs stored in the shell. Adding benzoate to the liquid solution improved the shelf life of the peeled, hard-cooked eggs over that of eggs stored without shells in water. Microbial counts were closely associated with sensory panel results.