Effect of processing on the fatty acid composition of fresh and stored n-3 and n-6 eggs from hens fed diets supplemented with fish or sunflower oil

Eggs from hens fed diets supplemented with 3% fish or sunflower oil were either fresh submitted to pasteurization, hard-boiling or scrambling processing, or were first submitted to refrigerated storage at 4 degrees C for 60 d and then to processing. Fresh fish oil eggs showed a higher (P <= 0.05) proportion of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) but lower (P <= 0.05) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) than the sunflower oil eggs. They also showed much higher (P <= 0.05) proportions of n-3 PUFAs than the sunflower oil eggs, which were generally characterized by considerably (P <= 0.05) higher levels of n-6 PUFAs than the fish oil eggs. Storage decreased (P <= 0.05) the proportions of PUFAs but increased (P <= 0.05) those of MUFAs, whereas pasteurization and hard-boiling exerted no effect (P > 0.05) on the fatty acid composition of fresh and stored eggs from both groups. In contrast, scrambling affected the fatty acid composition of fresh and stored eggs from both groups increasing (P <= 0.05) the proportions of oleic and linoleic acids, and decreasing (P <= 0.05) the proportions of the very long chain n-3 fatty acids.