18 



BULLETIN 702, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of checking the work of individual candlers was in operation. The 

 one expert in the force was delegated to recandle the rejects, to re- 

 claim any good eggs which might be present. He did not instruct 

 the candlers regarding their mistakes in grading. Consequently their 

 work did not improve with added experience. 



ESSENTIALS OF GOOD MANAGEMENT. 



From the foregoing it may be concluded that for the preparation 

 of standard grades of food eggs a rigid system of inspection of the 

 work of individual candlers must be enforced, particularly when a 

 force of inexperienced candlers is employed. This system should 

 include not only the recandling of the rejects, but also daily represen- 

 tative portions of the eggs graded as good. If the plant is equipped 

 with an egg-breaking room, the accuracy of the candling of the 

 breaking stock can be easily checked as the eggs are opened. To 

 carry out such an inspection system each candler should be instructed 

 to place a tag bearing his initials or his number in each case or pail 

 of eggs candled by him, so that when mistakes are found they can 

 be traced and corrected. Each candler should direct his entire at- 

 tention to his work and such distractions as conversation should not 

 be permitted. A foreman versed in the handling of eggs and having 

 executive ability is a prerequisite. 



Table 10. — Accuracy of individual inexperienced candlers at D house as deter- 

 mined ty recandling rejects hy candling-room foreman. 



Candler 

 No. 



Number 

 of eggs 

 exam- 

 ined. 



Bad 

 eggs. 



Good 

 eggs. 



Kinds of good eggs. 



Thick 



shells. 



Heated. 



Watery. 



Good 



(careless- 

 ness). 



Settled 

 yolk. 



Olive- 

 green 

 yolk. 



Miscella- 

 neous. 



1 



144 

 111 

 132 

 108 

 84 

 180 



Per cent. 

 94.4 

 92.0 

 87.0 

 82.1 

 80.9 

 78.0 



Per cent. 

 5.6 

 8.0 

 13.0 

 17.9 

 18.9 

 22.0 



Per cent. 

 4.2 

 3.9 

 7.40 



15.5 

 6.3 



15.2 



Per cent. 



Per cent. 



Percent. 



Per cent. 

 0.7 

 .6 

 1.9 

 1.2 

 4.5 

 1.5 



Per cent. 



Per cent. 

 0.7 



2 



0.6 

 1.9 

 1.2 

 5.4 

 1.5 



0.6 

 .9 



1.7 



•0.6 

 .9 





3 





4. 







5 





2.7 

 1.5 







6 



.8 



1.5 













SUMMARY. 



In bad eggs graded commercially by the candle as fit for food pur- 

 poses there was found one group composed of eggs which could have 

 been detected before the candle and another for which the present 

 system is inadequate. The proportion of the first group in edible 

 grades can, therefore, be taken as one measure of the efficiency of 

 grading eggs by the candle. 



The accuracy of candling depends upon the quality of the eggs and 

 the skill of the candlers. With experienced workers the number of 

 bad eggs found in high-grade eggs after candling is negligible. On 



