96 BULLETIN 846, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



half inch deep; separate any masses present by the fingers or forceps 

 until the whole is a homogeneous mixture. By tilting the pan back 

 and forth any thickened portions or black specks can be detected. 

 These thickened portions of albumen and yolk, which may or may 

 not be discolored, generally contain mold. Kemove any suspicious 

 pieces, and examine microscopically. If embryos are present they 

 can be detected by a dark spot, which is the pigment in the eye- 

 After carefully examining a panful in this manner, strain it through 

 a sieve, usually one of the ordinary household type, 12 inches in 

 diameter, with about \\ mm. mesh (or 16 or 20 meshes to the inch). 

 "Wash through the sieve all of the egg which will go through easily 

 without rubbing. Search what remains on the sieve for mold, em- 

 bryos, dirt, etc. The entire sample should be examined in this man- 

 ner. Express results as number of each per 30 pounds of material. 



MICROSCOPICAL. 



Any pieces picked out of the egg as being suspicious must be ex- 

 amined microscopically. If mold is present this examination will 

 show the mycelium, which may be colorless or dark. Often spores 

 are present. To detect the mycelium it is necessary to make a thin 

 mount through which the light readily passes. The lighting must be 

 carefully adjusted, however, as the mycelium is generally about the 

 color of the egg. This requires only a small amount of each piece. 

 The remainder, as well as the embryos and foreign material, should be 

 preserved in 5 per cent formalin for court exhibit, It is unnecessary 

 to make a microscopical examination for embryos, as those found are 

 usually of from three to five days' development. At this age they 

 are well formed and easily recognized macroscopicalry. 



The analyst must become familiar with the appearance of various 

 kinds of inedible eggs. This can easily be accomplished by obtaining 

 rejects from a candling establishment and breaking them out. The 

 spot eggs found in frozen eggs are heavy spots where the yolk is 

 thickened and of a whitish appearance, or rnoldy spots, or spot eggs 

 containing embryos. White rots can not be determined by this 

 examination, as they are too intimately mixed with the whole mass. 



SUMMARY. 



Analytical results for eggs of the same quality agree very closely, 

 no matter whether the eggs are produced and examined in Washing- 

 ton, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. When 

 carefully followed, the analytical methods described in this bulletin 

 will give concordant results in the hands of a number of analysts. A 

 formula has been devised which will separate into edible and inedible 

 groups samples of liquid or frozen white, whole egg, yolky mixture, 

 and yolk prepared from either fresh eggs or storage eggs. A formula 

 for sugared yolk is also proposed. 



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