EGGS 131 



the eggs and bring them to or near to the temperature 

 of the room. When the case is opened after this wait, 

 the eggs will be dry and will be much better for selling 

 and for table use than they would be if treated in the 

 other manner. The greater part of all the deterioration 

 in eggs is directly blamable on careless handling. 



Eggs that are perfectly fresh when put in cold storage 

 will, if packed in clean cases and properly stored, be 

 quite as good as when removed from cold storage as 

 they were when placed there. More cold-storage eggs 

 are injured between the time they are removed from 

 storage and are sold than are injured while in the cold- 

 storage room. If low-grade or inferior eggs are placed 

 in cold storage, they will be worse when taken out of 

 storage than they were when placed in storage. 



Eggs that are fresh and good and poultry that is fresh, 

 good, and properly dressed will, if carefully packed, 

 keep in cold storage for many months, and be nearly 

 or quite as good for food as they were when placed in 

 storage. Eggs that have been heated in transit or that 

 have not been cared for properly prior to being placed 

 in storage, will have deteriorated when taken from 

 storage. Such eggs are the kind that call down con- 

 demnation on cold-storage eggs. The same is true of 

 dressed poultry. If it is good when placed in storage, it 

 will be good when it comes out; if it is inferior when 

 placed in storage it will be less fit for food when taken 

 out than it was when it was placed in storage. 



Most fresh-laid eggs are a typically perfect food, but 

 they may be infected almost immediately after being 

 laid. For example, the filth of nesting material may 

 adhere to the moist surface of fresh-laid eggs and so 

 infect them as to render them unfit for food. Such con- 

 tamination will speedily spoil the eggs in spite of the 

 most careful later handling. Eggs left in the nest for 

 a few hours when the weather is very hot may be in- 

 jured. It is not unusual for the temperature at noon 

 to be 98 or 100 inside of some poultry houses. Eggs 

 that are laid in infected nesting material and left there 



