128 Indianapolis Biochcmical Meeting: Abstracts [Sept 



Deterioration in Eggs as Shown by Changes in the 



Moisture Content 



A. D. GREENLEE 



(Food Research Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. 

 Department of Agricidture, Philadelphia.) 



Eggs contain a high percentage of moisture when fresh — white 

 about 88 per cent., and yolk about 48 per cent. This percentage 

 of moisture is constantly changing, due both to a loss to the 

 external atmosphere by evaporation and also to internal rearrange- 

 ment. The yolk absorbs water from the white. This change 

 increases with the temperature and time, and when carefully meas- 

 ured it becomes a good index of the condition and probable age of 

 the tgg. By test experiments on a uniform lot of eggs, held at a 

 constant temperature and analyzed at short intervals of time, the 

 rate of change of moisture content can be determined and plotted 

 and by means of the subsequent formula derived, the condition 

 of any lot of eggs can be predicted from the first analysis for any 

 given date within the holding period. 



By a further extension of the work now in progress it is hoped 

 that the age and past history of the G.gg can be deciphered from a 

 determination of the percentage and relative distribution of the 

 moisture. 



The Oxidation of Chicken Fat with Hydrogen Peroxide 



J. S. HEPBURN 



{Food Research Laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, Philadelphia.) 



When light, air, heat and enzymes act on fats and oils, the 

 various constants undergo changes, and an increase in saponifica- 

 tion number is usually accompanied by a decrease in Hehner number, 

 and vice versa. This phenomenon is due chiefly to the oxidation 

 of the unsaturated acids at the double bonds. However, when 

 chickens are kept hard frozen, both the saponification number and 



