1916] ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 173 



A study of the preparation of frozen and dried eggs in the producing sec- 

 tion, Mary E. Pennington, M. K. Jenkins, W. A. Stocking et al. ( JJ. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Bui. 224 (.1916), pp. 99, pis. 17. figs. 7).— Descriptions and laboratory find- 

 ings as to the various types of eggs occurring in the egg-breaking season have 

 been previously noted (E. S. R., 31, p. 570). Details of the practical application 

 of the principles of construction and equipment of egg-breaking establishments, 

 observations in the packing house, the organization of candling room, breaking 

 room, and wash room in accordance with suggestions made for improvement, 

 and the laboratory findings in samples of the commercial product are correlated, 

 discussed, and summarized in the present bulletin. 



It was found in this study, carried on at a number of commercial egg-breaking 

 houses in 1911 and 1912, that eggs commonly used for breaking stock by reputable 

 firms are the small and oversized eggs, dirty and cracked eggs, and shrunken 

 eggs. To check deterioration the eggs should be held in chilled surroundings 

 before and during the process of candling, breaking, and mixing preparatory 

 to freezing or drying. 



All eggs, even during the spring months, should be candled previous to break- 

 ing. In order to insure well-candled eggs going to the breakage room the sys- 

 tem of candling should be such that the work of the individual candlers is 

 checked, and to prevent waste the eggs difficult to grade should be set aside by 

 the regular candlers to be recandled by an expert. All eggs used in the prepa- 

 ration of frozen and dried eggs should be graded out of the shell as well as by 

 the candle, because certain heavily infected eggs, such as sour eggs and eggs 

 with green whites, can only be detected when broken. 



In order to insure a good product, bacterial cleanliness and careful grading 

 must be obtained during the process of preparation. The fingers of the break- 

 ers should be kept dry and clean. Not more than three eggs should be broken 

 into a cup before emptying, and good eggs should not be saved when a bad egg 

 has been broken into a cup with them. White and yolk are contaminated less 

 by the mechanical than by the shell method of separation, and only clean eggs 

 should be separated by the latter process. 



The percentage of " rots " rejected on candling and the organisms in the 

 liquid egg saved increases as the season advances. 



Canned eggs with the majority of samples having counts of less than 5,000,000 

 bacteria per gram, and with 100,000 Bacillus coll or less can be prepared in the 

 producing section from regular breaking stock, provided strict cleanliness and 

 careful grading have been observed. The ammoniacal nitrogen will very sel- 

 dom be over 0.0024 per cent on the wet basis or 0.00S7 per cent on the dry basis. 

 The amount of ammoniacal nitrogen in desiccated egg, however, is not deemed a 

 reliable index to the quality of the raw material from which it is prepared, be- 

 cause this substance is volatilized unevenly during the process of desiccation. 



A second-grade frozen product sometimes prepared from eggs showing incipi- 

 ent decomposition to the senses, such as " beginning sours " and eggs with 

 green whites, was foimd not only heavily infected but chemically decomposed 

 and unfit for food purposes. Only two grades of canned eggs should be pre- 

 pared when grading eggs out of the shell, viz, food egg and tanners' egg. Leak- 

 ing eggs handled on special trays between candling and breaking room and 

 graded carefully are as fit for breaking as regular breaking stock. Tanners' 

 egg contains markedly larger numbers of bacteria and larger amounts of ammo- 

 niacal nitrogen than does food egg. 



The control of the supply of air to drying belts to prevent saturation from 

 the liquid egg is an important factor in preventing multiplication of bacteria 

 in the product during the process of desiccation. 



