PREPARATION OF FROZEN AND DRIED EGGS. 3 



care in the candling room. Many bad egga that should have been thrown aside by 

 the candler were sent to the breaker, complicating her work, soiling the apparatus 

 and, ultimately, finding their way, to a certain extent, to the food product, because 

 her ideas of economy would not permit her to discard a large percentage of eggs, and 

 therefore, unconsciously, she lowered her standard for food eggs. 



Grading eggs, either before the candle or out of the shell, requires close attention, 

 yet there was almost unrestricted talking, laughing, or whistling in both candling and 

 breaking rooms. It was not possible to check the work of the individual candlers or 

 breakers, since identities were promptly lost. Such a condition made for carelessness, 

 as a lack of responsibility always does. 



The speed of candling or breaking is a factor which must be considered from two 

 viewpoints. If the workman soldiers or is unnecessarily slow, the cost of the work 

 performed is unnecessarily high; on the other hand, if he works too rapidly he is 

 sure to misgrade or do dirty work. It was, therefore, necessary to make a study of 

 speed that both the quality of the product and the cost of production might be put on 

 a more definite basis. 



The investigation at the close of the season of 1911 had resolved itself into the fol- 

 lowing problems: (1) The construction of suitable rooms for the housing of the indus- 

 try and of suitable equipment to insure cleanliness; (2) the grading of the eggs by 

 candlers and breakers; (3) the keeping of the product after preparation and its be- 

 havior in the bakery; (4) the establishment of a system based on scientific observa- 

 tions by which an employee should do a full day 's work that will result in a product 

 of definite and uniform quality. The work of the season of 1912 endeavored to solve 

 these questions. The story of the work along the lines indicated follows. 



PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL WORK OF 1912. 



The experiments and observations made in the six houses during the season of 

 1911 showed that certain forms of construction and equipment and certain methods 

 of operation are necessaiy for the preparation of clean, wholesome frozen and desic- 

 cated eggs. In order to make practical application of this information, arrange- 

 ments were made to work cooperatively with the management of three of the houses 

 while remodeling their construction and equipment, making observations, and assist- 

 ing in the organization of methods of operation. 



Since the laboratory studies during the season of 1911 represented the product 

 prepared under old conditions, bacteriological and chemical samples were taken in 

 D, E, and F houses which were under observation during 1912. The bacteriological 

 and chemical examinations of the samples were made, as in 1911, in the Omaha 

 Food and Drug Inspection Laboratory. The results of the laboratory studies were 

 applied practically, when possible, to improve the quality of the commercial product 

 and to learn which eggs should be conserved for food purposes and which should not. 



REMODELING OF CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT. 



The plans for remodeling the construction and the equipment of the three houses 

 were founded on the following general principles: 



1. In order to prevent deterioration of eggs after receipt, the holding room, candling 

 room, and breaking room should be insulated and refrigerated. A temperature of 30° 

 F. to 32° F. should be maintained in the first, 50° F. to 55° F. in the second, and 60° 

 F. to 65° F. in the third. The chilling of the candling and breaking rooms is to pre- 

 vent the sweating of the eggs after they are removed from the chill room. Since the 

 candlers and breakers spend the entire working day in the candling and breaking 

 rooms, it is necessary that both be ventilated. The breaking room and wash room 

 should be built with nonabsorbent walls and floor and should have an abundant sup- 

 ply of natural light. The washroom should be separate from the breaking room and 

 should have a floor sloping toward a drain. 



2. The most important piece of equipment in the candling room is the egg candle. 

 It should be supplied with a strong, white light and with openings from three-fourths 

 to one and one-fourth inches in diameter. 



3. The apparatus in the breaking room should be of metal, or of a material permit- 

 ting of absolute cleanliness. The table should have metal legs and a nonabsorbent 

 top, such as monel metal, zinc, galvanized iron, or glass. The breaking trays should 

 be made of a metal which will not rust. The tray should be constructed with a 

 removable breaking knife, with a support for the cups, so that they will not set in 

 the drip collecting from the knife and so that they will not set directly under the 

 knife. The cups should be transparent, not opaque. The egg mixers, preferably, 

 should be surrounded with brine and so constructed that they will permit of steam 

 sterilization for 20 minutes. 



4. The wash room should be supplied with hot and cold water and equipped with 



sinks a.nrl stfirilizfvrs 



