The term egg products refers to processed and convenience forms of eggs for foodservice and food manufacturers. These products can be classified as refrigerated liquid, frozen, dried, and specialty products. For many years, eggs were marketed primarily as shell eggs, but in recent years egg consumption in the form of egg products has increased.

Consumption of egg products in 1984 was 15% of the total eggs produced, or 25.6 million cases of shell eggs further processed. By 2003, the numbers increased to about 30% of the total egg production, or 60.9 million cases of shell eggs broken into egg products. Today, the production of frozen eggs has leveled out, some growth is noted in dried egg production, and production of refrigerated liquid eggs has greatly increased.

Many new convenience forms of egg products are reaching the marketplace, both in the home and through foodservice and commercially processed foods. In fact, tremendous growth of the use of egg products has occurred in the foodservice industry, particularly in breakfast menu items, and in the utilization of hard-cooked eggs on salad bars.

Because they provide certain desirable functional attributes, eggs and egg products are widely used as ingredients in many food products.

Fueled by increasing consumer demand for more convenience food products, growth of the egg products industry is expected to continue.