Consumer criteria for purchasing eggs and the quality of eggs in the markets of the city of Belgrade

In order to examine the consumers' attitude towards eggs, 239 respondents in the area of the City of Belgrade were surveyed, and the assessment of the quality of eggs on the Belgrade market was done by examining the quality of eggs in super/hypermarkets. In the survey, consumers expressed their views about the place of purchase of eggs, the criteria for purchasing and the significance of certain quality traits/properties. In the egg quality test eggs of class A were used, and it was done on egg samples from 5 super/hypermarkets, from a total of 10 egg manufacturers. Based on the results of the study, it was found that most egg consumers buy in super/hypermarkets (39.62%), that the brand/manufacturer was not important for 30.37% of the respondents, that they preferred to buy larger eggs (SS, S and A classes). The quality of eggs is very important for 73.28% of subjects, and the colour of the yolk preferred by the respondents was extremely yellow (62.76%). The supply of table eggs on the market was different (from 1 to 5 manufacturers) per retail store. The quality of eggs, observed for all super/hypermarkets and all manufacturers, expressed in Haugh units, decreased with the shelf life of eggs. The quality of eggs from category 1 to 10 days, in all super/hypermarkets, observed for all manufacturers, was within the studied class A, with egg weight ranging from 60.9 to 64.1g, egg shell colour from 3.6 to 4.2, egg cleanness 4.4 to 5.0, the colour of the yolk (Roche) from 10.9 to 13.2, and the number of Haugh units from 73.2 to 91.7. The results of the research indicate that consumers in the City of Belgrade are placing importance on the quality of table eggs, that there are differences in the supply and freshness of the eggs between the markets, and that there are differences in the quality within the same market, regardless of the manufacturer