EFPICIElSrCY OF COMMERCIAL EGG CANDLING. 19 



the other hand, when a large percentage of the good eggs in the sup- 

 ply have weak whites and yolks and the percentage of bad eggs runs 

 high, the difficulty of distinguishing between edible and inedible eggs 

 is increased, and the number of bad eggs miscandled is greater. In 

 the studies with skilled candlers the average number of bad eggs mis- 

 candled in a case of 30 dozen varied from 0.20 in spring firsts to 10.77 

 in very low-grade refrigerator or cold-storage eggs. The number of 

 bad eggs which could not be found by candling ranged from none to 

 6.93 per case, depending upon the grade of eggs examined. The data, 

 as summarized from another point of view, show that out of 5,985 

 bad eggs present in 128,587 eggs, 71.65 per cent were detected by 

 candling, 17.02 per cent were missed by candling, and 11.33 per cent 

 were not distinguishable by candling. 



Black rots, eggs with moldy spots, and eggs with heavily adherent 

 yolks present such distinctive characteristics before the candle that 

 their presence in edible grades is an evidence of carelessness. White 

 rots, but more particularly mixed rots, eggs with yolks slightly stuck 

 to the shell, blood rings, and eggs with bloody whites do not always 

 show such striking features before the candle. These are the eggs 

 which are found chiefly in the miscandled group of bad eggs. A 

 brown shell or a light colored yolk is a factor which reduces the con- 

 trast between white and yolk, making differentiation between good 

 and bad eggs more difficult. 



Eggs with green whites and eggs with normal appearance but 

 having bad odors constituted the group not recognizable by candling. 



The good eggs which were frequently miscandled, especially by 

 inexperienced candlers, were those with brown shells, hatch-spot eggs, 

 weak eggs, eggs with the yolk floating near the shell, eggs with olive- 

 colored yolks, and eggs with movable air cells. The average number 

 of bad eggs found in the rejects by recandling was a dozen to the 

 case, or less, with experienced candlers, and from 3 to 6 dozen with 

 inexperienced candlers under good management. In the latter in- 

 stance the candlers were directed to put all doubtful eggs with the 

 rejects, which were then recandled by an expert. In plants having 

 poor management and poor candlers the number of good egg^ in the 

 discards sometimes reached 11 dozen to the case. 



The enforcement of a system of checking the work of individual 

 candlers, particularly in plants employing inexperienced help, was 

 found to be the best way to maintain high efficiency in a candling 

 force. 



