[Efficacy of disinfectants in contamination of eggs]

Good hygiene practices are essential in livestock production. Likewise hygienic production and storage of hatching eggs contribute to improve hatchability and to obtain healthier fowls. This study was designed to compare three methods of disinfection commonly used in poultry houses: fumigation with formaldehyde, pulverization of an iodophore and synthetic phenols. By washing eggs in sterile bags to determine the bacterial contamination on shells, the best results were obtained with formaldehyde, and the smallest bacterial decrease with the iodophore.