Egg cooking and packaging apparatus

Abstract

An egg cooking and packaging process and apparatus are disclosed in which whole eggs are deshelled and transferred intact to cooking pans without breaking the yolks or separating the yolks from the whites. Additional egg white is preferably dispensed into the pans before the whole eggs are received therein to act as a cushion for the yolks and provide a low cholesterol mixture of yolks and egg whites. The eggs are cooked with dry culinary steam in a multiple temperature zone steam tunnel that slowly increases temperature from zone to zone to prevent toughening and yolk darkening. As the cooked eggs exit the steam tunnel they are dumped into a dicer and transported to form and fill packaging equipment which packages and seals the eggs while they are still at a sterile temperature. The sealed packages are cooled to a refrigerated temperature with sprayed ice water, and this creates a partial vacuum in the packages which prolongs their shelf life. Scrambled eggs can also be cooked and packaged in a similar manner.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.