IXDUSTRIES DEPEXDIXa OX AXIMAI. PRODUCTS LJOl 



be that the presence of soft eggs in the whole and mixed eggs offers also 

 an explanation of their higher bacterial content. 



It is interesting to note that the average count of the product prepared 

 from leaking eggs is not different from that of whole and mixed eggs. 

 The average count of the former was 1.300.000 and for the latter 1.800.000. 

 The amount of chemical decomposition was no greater in the leaking eggs 

 than in the whole and mixed eggs. 



The product prepared from soft eggs graded as fit for food purposes 

 contained decidedly more bacteria than the whole or mixed egg, but the 

 amounts of ammoniacal nitrogen in the two were not so very far apart. 

 The average number of organisms in the soft eggs numbered 20 000 000 

 per gram, as compared with i 800 000 in the whole and mixed egg, whereas 

 the percentage of loosely bound nitrogen averaged 0.0080 in the former 

 and 0.0074 in the latter. The bacteria in the soft eggs were not present 

 in sufficient numbers or for a sufficient length of time to aft'ect a decom- 

 position of the egg material. On the other hand the second grade frozen 

 egg prepared from «■ beginning sours », (i. e. eggs with light-green whites 

 and the tanners' eggs were not only heavih^ infected but were decomposed. 

 The average number of bacteria in the former was 35 000 000 per gm. 

 and in the latter 76 000 000. The amount of ammoniacal nitrogen was 

 0.0108 per cent in the second-grade egg and 0.0133 i^ the tanners' eggs. 

 The comparative data, together with the practical observations of the 

 eggs used in the former product, show verv- conclusively that second-grade 

 canned or dried eggs are unfit for food purposes. 



As the houses under obserA-ation during 1912 were three of the largest 

 producers of canned and dried eggs in the United States, it is instructive 

 to compare the quality of their output as indicated by its bacterial content 

 with that offered for sale for food during the two 3'ears previous to the 

 investigation. STii,ES and bates {Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Dep. of 

 Agr. Biilletin No. 158) found in a study of 312 samples of frozen eggs 

 collected from different sources during the years 1909 to 1911, inclusive, 

 that 58.3 per cent contained over 10 000 000 bacteria per gram. Of 216 

 samples of liquid eggs obtained from the cooperating houses during this 

 investigation in 1912, only 1.4 per cent were found to contain over 10 000 000 

 per gram. The maximum count in the three houses in 1912 was 11 000 000 

 per gram, while the maximvim found by Stiles and Bates was i 180 000 000. 



The difference in the bacterial count of the samples of dried eggs was 

 equally as marked. Stiles and Bates found that 83.3 per cen'f" of the samples 

 purchased on the open market contained over 10 000 000 per gram. Only 

 6.3 per cent of 46 samples taken in E house contained over this number, 

 while in F house 55.3 per cent of the samples were in excess of 10 000 000. 

 The maximum number per gram found in the samples of dried eggs taken 

 in 1912 was 20 000 000 for B house and 200 000 000 for F house, and in 

 the samples collected between 1909 and 1911 by Stiles and Bates 210 000 000 

 It is known in the case of F house that the raw material was of good qua- 

 Hty and that the bacteria increased during desiccation. 



The samples studied b}'- Stiles and Bates represented not only frozen 



