24 A BACTERIOLOGICAL STUDY OP EGOS. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS ON FRESH EGGS. 



There were no B. coli present in 1 cc quantities of the 616 

 samples of albumen examined between April and October, 1911; 

 and of the 613 1 yolk determinations on the same eggs, B. coli were 

 found in only one instance and this occurred dunng the month 

 of July. 



The summary of Table 1, given on page 23, shows the following 

 results : 



The average bacterial content for the whole seven months was 

 15.9 per cubic centimeter for the albumen samples and for the yolk 

 samples 271.7 organisms per cubic centimeter. The minimum 

 monthly average of the bacterial content for the albumen samples 

 is found in April and September, amounting to 3.6, while the maxi- 

 mum was 36.5 in July. The minimum monthly average for the 

 yolk samples occurs also in April, amounting to 6.2, and the maximum 

 is again found in July, the figure being 473.2. 



The largest number of sterile yolks is recorded in April (39.78 per 

 cent), all other monthly averages being much lower, September 

 standing second with only 16.66 per cent and May third with 14.28 

 per cent. Considering the albumen samples, April again stands 

 first with 62.36 per cent of sterile samples, May following with 45.71 

 and June with 30.12. 



The commercial fresh eggs were obtained from miscellaneous 

 sources, exact age unknown; of the 53 whole eggs examined 20.7 

 per cent were sterile in 1 cc quantities, the maximum count was 

 20,000 organisms, and the average 1,026 per cubic centimeter, with 

 no B. coli present. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH FROZEN EGG PRODUCTS. 

 PREPARATION OF SAMPLES. 



A number of laboratory experiments on the various grades of 

 frozen egg products have been made, and the results obtained are 

 given in Tables 4 to 13. The eggs had been candled in a commercial 

 house and were recandled in the laboratory in all cases. The mate- 

 rial was prepared by breaking several dozen shell eggs in a uniform 

 manner by opening over a cup, after which they were placed in other 

 containers according to grade. From each grade thus prepared por- 

 tions of approximately 50 cc quantities were introduced, after thor- 

 ough mixing, into sterilized, cotton-stoppered, Erlenmeyer flasks and 

 held at about 10 F. The thermograph readings varied but slightly 

 from this figure during the investigation. At frequent intervals one 

 of the flasks was removed from storage, and after quickly melting 

 the contents the analysis was made in the usual manner. Table 15 

 gives the results obtained on 312 samples of commercial frozen eggs 

 analyzed when purchased on the market, during a period of seven 

 months, from September 28 to May 1, inclusive. 



i Three samples of yolk were broken. 



