Viscosity changes of chitosan solution affect physico-functional properties and consumer perception of coated eggs during storage

•Chitosan coating and refrigeration preserve internal quality of eggs.•Viscosity of chitosan solution decreased with increased storage time.•Viscosity of chitosan solution decreased with increased storage temperature.•Viscosity of chitosan solution had minimal impact on internal quality of eggs.

Effects of storage of chitosan (CH) solution on physico-functional properties and consumer perception of CH-coated eggs were evaluated during 5- and 15-weeks storage at 25 °C and 4 °C, respectively. Seven treatments [CH0 (freshly-prepared), CH1 (stored for 1-week at 25 °C), CH1R (1-week, 4 °C), CH3 (3-weeks, 25 °C), CH3R (3-weeks, 4 °C), CH5 (5-weeks, 25 °C), CH5R (5-weeks, 4 °C)] were applied on eggshell. After 5-weeks storage, CH-solution viscosity decreased by 2.56 and 4.6 times, respectively, at 4 °C and 25 °C while pH slightly increased. CH0 preserved grade-A quality for 4-weeks vs. 1-week for noncoated eggs at 25 °C. After 5-weeks, weight loss (%) of coated eggs at 25 °C (6.04-5.59) was lower than that of noncoated eggs (7.44) but higher than that of all eggs at 4 °C (2.93-2.46). Albumen pH increased while emulsion capacity decreased with increased storage time; however, both were insignificantly affected by CH viscosity. Consumers perceived CH0- and CH1R-eggshell to be glossier than noncoated eggs after 5-weeks. Purchase intent was higher for CH-coated eggs (72-77.3%) than for noncoated eggs (61.3%). Overall, viscosity changes of CH-coating solution had lesser impact on quality of CH-coated eggs than did storage temperature/time of eggs.