A Study on Housewives′ Purchase of Special Eggs, Storage and Cooking of Eggs in Kyunggi-do and Inchon

경기.인천지역 주부의 특수란의 구매와 계란의 보관 및 조리에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the storage and cooking of eggs in addition to the purchase of special eggs. This survey was tarried out through questionnaire and subjects were 429 housewives whose children were middle or high school students in Kyunggi-do and Inchon. Most housewives began to purchase special eggs one year ago. When housewives purchased special eggs, the first consideration was in order of nutrition, freshness, price and preference. The higher housewives' education level was, the higher they took nutrition into consideration. More than half of housewives replied that the proper package of special eggs was 10 eggs or more, and perceived that the period between producers of eggs and consumers was less than 5 days. Most housewives did the freshness test by checking roughness of shell surface or the interior quality of egg yolk and white after purchase. Also most housewives stored eggs in the inside rack of refrigerator door. Most housewives served dishes made from eggs more than 2 or 3 times per week and perceived that soft-boiled eggs are foods easy of digestion. These results suggested that it is necessary to supply fresh and nutritious eggs and to develop various dishes made from eggs for quickly-prepared meals.