Improvement in Quality of Scrambled Egg Products Served from Steam Table Display

Abstract

A study was conducted to develop a scrambled egg product that would retain its appealing qualities, particularly lack of liquid separation, while being stored on and served from a steam table display. A formulation was successfully developed which included liquid whole egg, water, nonfat milk solids, salt, hydroxypropylcellulose, modified corn starch, and sodium monophosphate. This laboratory formulation was tested in a cafeteria serving line using consumer surveys in which categories of appearance, aroma, color, taste, and texture were rated on a 5-point hedonic scale. The first phase of consumer testing compared the laboratory formulation and two commercial scrambled egg products with control scrambled eggs. The final phase compared the laboratory formulation with another successful commercial product.No statistically significant differences were found overall among the laboratory formulation or the commercial products and control scrambled eggs in the first phase of consumer tests or between the laboratory formulation and the commercial product in the final phase. However, when final phase scores were divided into four 5-min periods, the commercial product was found to decline significantly in quality from 15 to 20 min of storage on the steam table, while the laboratory formulation retained its quality and received significantly higher hedonic scale scores.