Many modern poultry ranches have automated egg collection equipment, which allows for the development of a biosecure barrier between egg handling and the chickens. Eggs are automatically collected from the flock and delivered to a central collection area where they are packed onto flats (off line) or are conveyed directly into the processing machine (on line).

A biosecure barrier requires that egg handling processes are defined as dirty while the flocks are always clean. That would mean that personnel from these two areas would not mix and that a shower and change of clothes would be required to move from the dirty to the clean areas of the facility, thus, from egg handling to working with the flocks.

Modern, fully-automated egg collection system.

Egg collection room with a conveyer belt bringing in eggs.

 

Traffic flow between chicken houses and the egg collection area.The green arrow indicates traffic flow from clean to dirty areas.The red arrow indicates traffic flow from dirty to clean, which is not acceptable without a shower and a complete change of clothes.