448 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of ep:gs fit for food might bo found and that e.^^s unfit for consumption 

 mio;lit surely bo eliminated. It is very desirable that eggs whicn are 

 of doubtful shipping quality, yet still wholesome, should be conserved 

 at the source of production, but such conservation has not heretofore 

 been always conducted in a manner calculated to give the best results 

 for either the consumer or the producer. The investigation outlined 

 aims to remedy these defects so far as possible. 



Any report of this field work would be incomplete without a state- 

 ment concerning the industries cooperating in the solving of the 

 problems. The poultry and egg industry, as organizations and as 

 individuals, have placed ever}^ facility at the disposal of those con- 

 ducting the investigations. While it is with the shipper on the one 

 hand and the receiver on the other that most of the practical work 

 has been done, yet the carrier who is endeavoring to transport the 

 goods to market in a sound condition also cooperates in the campaign 

 to preserve perishable products, and the warehouseman who stores 

 perishable products is another ally in the endeavor to conserve food 

 m a wholesome, palatable condition. Standing as the warehouseman 

 does, between the shipper on the one hand and the distributor of foods 

 on the other, his opportunity for influence and education is broad and 

 varied, and his assistance in the promulgation of the doctrines of good 

 handling is essential. 



Laboratory Investigations on Eggs and Poultry. 



At the food research laboratory in Philadelphia the commercial 

 problems are put on a firm, scientific foundation before field experi- 

 mentation is seriously considered. Chemistry, bacteriology, and his- 

 tology are brought to bear on the questions, then on a foundation of 

 fact field work is begun and not only the results but the reasons under- 

 lying them can be given to the industry. The study of the r6le played 

 by temperature in the history of bacterial and chemical changes in 

 flesh has been pushed. This work has continued now for about four 

 years and a great mass of data has been collected from which, from 

 time to time, practical information has been furnished to meetings of 

 industrial organizations. Congressional committees, etc. The com- 

 pilation of the detailed scientific data obtained is under way. Quite 

 aside from the study of temperature proper, a number of examinations 

 have been made of chicken flesh subjected to routine marketing. 

 When the shipments from the field laboratory reach the receiving 

 center, samples are sent at once to the laboratory, where chemical and 

 bacteriological examinations are made; and again several times during 

 the marketing samples are sent for such examinations. These analy- 

 ses will aggregate many hundreds, and, taken in connection with the 

 environment to which the flesh has been subjected, will furnish valu- 

 able data on its decomposition. 



A laboratory study of eggs subjected to different methods of han- 

 dling is also being conducted, as was indicated in the statement con- 

 cerning the work in the field. Eggs have been analyzed after keeping 

 for varying periods, under varying conditions. This phase of the 

 research work has also been under way for a considerable period, and 

 the results are now being compiled. The study of eggs in transporta- 

 tion and during marketing — that is, the shipments made from the 



