Technological strategies for the development of egg-derived products with reduced content of cholesterol.

Four different strategies were employed to obtain egg-derived products in form of sticks with a reduced cholesterol content (use of ?-cyclodextrins, extraction of egg-yolk granules, bioconversion of cholesterol by cholesterol oxidase, and use of chitosan as a chelating agent). The developed products were analyzed and compared to conventional egg-derived products for their proximate composition, cholesterol content, color, and consumer acceptability. Additionally, the lipid oxidation and surface color stability of modified and conventional egg-derived products were investigated during 30 days of frozen storage. The results obtained showed reductions in the cholesterol content of egg-derived yolks ranging from 27.11 % (chitosan addition in a range 1:1) to 87.54 % (?-cyclodextrins added directly). Lipid oxidation determinations revealed that no significant increases were found in any of the developed yolks with respect to control ones. In fact, chitosan-added products (in a range 2:1) and egg-derived products elaborated with yolk granules showed significantly lower lipid oxidation than control ones after frozen storage. Consumer acceptability parameters did not reveal significant differences between chitosan-added egg-derived products with respect to the control ones, with the only exception of a slight difference in odor (5.57 in chitosan-added product vs 5.14 in control product). Considering all the results obtained, egg-derived yolk that was chelated by chitosan contained the best balance out of the four methodologies employed, considering price, the ease of industrial application, and the minor changes in color and consumer acceptability. The final reduction of cholesterol content using this method was about 50 %.