36 A BACTERIOLOGICAL STUDY OF EGGS. 



(3) Frozen products made from "light spots, "" heavy spots," "blood 

 rings," and "rots" 1 show bacterial counts generally ranging from 

 about 1,000,000 to 1,000,000,000, while dried eggs made from the 

 same grades usually contain from 4,000,000 to more than 1 ,000,000,000 

 organisms per gram with a relatively high proportion of B. coli and 

 streptococci in both the frozen and dried material, indicating an 

 unwholesome article, unfit for food, and only useful for tanning leath- 

 ers, or for other technical purposes. 



(4) While the principle of preserving food by the abstraction of 

 moisture and refrigeration is recognized as a perfectly legitimate 

 business when applied to wholesome products, no amount of freezing 

 and desiccation will rejuvenate eggs already decomposed in whole or 

 in part. 



(5) The experiments herein reported on frozen and dried egg prod- 

 ucts kept at low temperatures indicate during the early part of storage 

 a general rise in the bacterial content with a subsequent decline in 

 numbers. This decline was more marked in the case of dried eggs 

 containing 10 per cent added sugar than in similar products to which 

 no sugar was added, indicating that the sugar has acted as an anti- 

 septic, as might be expected; such an addition might, therefore, be 

 employed to conceal inferiority. This point, however, must receive 

 further study before it can be safely discussed. 



(6) The egg industry in this country constitutes so valuable a 

 source of food that it is very essential that undesirable practices at- 

 tending any branch of it be remedied as quickly as possible. Increased 

 care in the production and handling of this highly perishable article 

 on the part of both the producer and the buyer will, to a large extent, 

 bring about these desired conditions. Already the Federal Govern- 

 ment and a number of States through their boards of health and experi- 

 ment stations are doing effective work toward raising the quality of 

 market eggs, and at the same time decreasing losses due to careless or 

 delayed handling. 



i See p. 12 for exact definition of these terms as here used. 



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