36 



BULLETIN 224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



reliance cannot, therefore, be placed on them, but they do serve to show a trend which 

 is later confirmed when the same criticisms of technic can not be made. 



The eight samples of liquid whole egg to determine progressive contamination had 

 a variation in bacterial count ranging from 140,000 organisms per gram to 1,500,000 

 and in the number of B. coli from to 10,000. 



The final dried products of the two series of experiments had, as listed in Table E-I 

 (Appendix, p. 66), under samples Nos. 4177 and 4191, a count of 1,300,000 in the 

 first case and 430,000 per gram in the second. The number of B. coli in sample 

 No. 4177, before and after drying, was 1,000 per gram; in No. 4191, 10,000 per gram 

 before drying and none afterwards. They had probably been killed by heat during 

 desiccation. Three other samples of dried egg taken during this period had bacterial 

 contents similar to specimen No. 4177. 



Immediately after the desiccated egg was scraped from the belt it was sifted to break 

 up the flakes and to separate out the wet lumps. (See p. 15.) To insure thorough 

 drying, the screened egg was placed in a bin at a temperature of 100° F. for a few 

 hours. Determination of moisture in the flaky egg before and after this secondary 

 drying showed practically no change in the water content. 



The wet lumps were rubbed through a sieve with the hands or by means of a grooved 

 block of wood about 4 inches square and placed in a bin at about 100° F. for final dry- 

 ing. The wet lumps sifted from the same run as the dried egg described under No. 

 4191 had, as shown in Table E-II (Appendix, p. 68), 14,000,000 bacteria per gram and 

 a moisture content of 18 per cent, both of which are distinctly higher than the corre- 

 sponding flaky portion. Other samples of wet lumps taken before and after sifting, 

 and after secondary drying, had bacterial counts of 2,400,000, 2,100,000, and 3,300,000 

 per gram respectively. The moisture content was reduced from 17.40 to 6.94 per 

 cent by secondary drying. 



Visit No. 2 {May 13 to 18). 



The refrigerating had not been completed, and the new breaking outfits had not 

 arrived. Since the former visit an extra set of brushes had been made for each 

 drying belt, so that it was possible to have them changed between runs. They 

 were always steamed for an hour instead of 20 minutes. An extra set of feeding 

 troughs were in the process of making. Duplicate parts of the mixing device had 

 been purchased so that one set could be washed and sterilized while the other was 

 in operation. 



The breaking stock of this period consisted of about 235 cases of cracked eggs per 

 day. Grading the eggs before the candle was being done well. The work in the 

 breaking room was also good when the number of untrained girls and the makeshift 

 apparatus are taken into consideration. 



It was customary for the girls to break enough eggs in the afternoon to cover the 

 belts during the first run in the morning. The weather was so warm that there was 

 bacterial multiplication in the liquid product while being held overnight without 

 refrigeration, as may be seen from the bacterial contents of the corresponding dried 

 products, given in Table 18. 



Table 18. — Effect of lach of refrigeration of liquid stock upon bacterial content of dried 



product (E house, 1912). 



COMMERCIAL SAMPLES OF DRIED EGG PREPARED FROM LIQUID EGG HELD AT 

 ROOM TEMPERATURE OVER NIGHT. 



Sample No. 



Visit. 



Date of 

 collec- 

 tion. 



Bacteria per gram on 

 plain agar incubated at — 



Gas-pro- 

 ducing bac- 

 teria per 

 gram in lac- 

 tose bile. 



Liquefying 

 organisms 





20° C. 



37° C. 



per gram. 



4295 



2 



2 

 3 

 3 



May 1 

 May 3 

 May 21 

 May' 23 



9,200,000 

 15,000,000 

 5,300,000 

 7,100,000 



5,000,000 

 11,000,000 

 1,300,000 

 1,400,000 



100,000 

 10,000 

 10,000 

 10,000 



300,000 



4296 



Oin 10,000 



4431 



20,000 



4432 



20,000 







COMMERCIAL SAMPLES OF DRIED EGG PREPARED FROM LIQUID EGG IMMEDIATELY 



AFTER BREAKING. 



4297. 

 4298. 



May 

 May 



1,100,000 

 900,000 



900,000 

 550,000 



10,000 

 10,000 



70,000 

 in 10,000 



