Analysis of eggs depending on the hens' breeding systems by Raman spectroscopy

The aim of this study is to show that Raman spectroscopy is a sensitive tool, which can be used to analyse eggs obtained in various hens' housing breeding systems. This study provided a new and simple method for testing hens’ eggs breeding systems. Raman methods have the potential to be applied by commercial inspections in the food industry for verification labels placed on eggs. The development of functional technological methods to study the quality of eggs could be an interesting way to gain profitability for the food industry resulting in improvement of public health conditions. A label-free Raman method for detecting spectral changes in eggs from cage systems, barn systems, free range systems and ecological systems is presented. The most important advantage of Raman spectroscopy is the ability to identify biomarkers that help to estimate the quality of eggs from various housing breeding systems based on typical spectra of lipids, proteins and carotenoids. It has been proved that ratios 1656/1004, 1656/1444, 1444/1520 and 1656/1156 can be used to distinguish eggs from various hens' breeding conditions.