A batch processing control system for a shell egg pasteurizer controls the time and temperature in which batches of shell eggs are held in a pasteurization bath in accordance with a predetermined pasteurization protocol for designated egg size and start temperature. The predetermined pasteurization protocol is preferably statistically verified to optimize batches of eggs having the designated size and start temperature. The system also includes reporting software that generates daily reports to track each respective batch and verify that the batch has been pasteurized according to the statistically verified protocol.

A transporting element for accommodating and for transporting spherical, cylindrical or egg-shaped articles, in particular foodstuffs, in particular eggs, along a conveying route, has a plurality of mounts arranged one beside the other along the longitudinal extent. The transporting element is designed in the form of a channel-like body with an accommodating space curved in the form of part of a circle, as seen in cross section, and encloses an angle of at least 180. The mounts are designed in the form of slot-form apertures in that region of the channel-like body that is curved in the form of part of a circle. The apertures extending parallel to one another, and transversely to the longitudinal extent of the channel-like body, as far as longitudinal crosspieces on either side, these forming a respective longitudinal periphery.

An apparatus for pasteurizing eggs includes a feeder for receiving and transferring eggs to a carrier, a chamber for heating and pasteurizing the eggs, a conveyor for moving the carrier with the eggs through the chamber, a transfer station for transferring the eggs from the carrier to a transport device, and a packing station for packing the coated eggs. A spraying device sprays liquid on the eggs in the chamber can be sprayed with a liquid to pasteurize the eggs.

A continuous feed, shell egg pasteurization system and method uses sprayed heated water. The unpasteurized shell eggs are conveyed and rotated through a horizontal tunnel. An overlapping pattern of heated water is sprayed downward onto the rotating shells eggs. Verified testing shows that the shell eggs achieve a statistical 5 log reduction of Salmonella enteritidis that may have been present in the yolk in the respective unpasteurized shell egg, while at the same time are not overcooked and have little to no whitening of the albumen.

Two stage heated water treatment of shell eggs results in-shell poached eggs. The in-shell poached are sufficiently cooked so when the eggs are cracked onto a plate the eggs have the characteristics of conventional poached eggs without further cooking and need only to be warmed for consumption. The in-shell poached eggs are also pasteurized in the shell to meet the FDA and WHO requirement of a 5-log reduction of Salmonella Enteritidis.