52 



BULLETIN 224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Intermediate numbers of bacteria were obtained from the yolks broken from a mix- 

 ture of the different classes of eggs. The chemical analysis in all cases indicated but 

 a small amount of protein decomposition. 



Six samples of soft egg from the mixing churns and buckets contained, as shown in 

 Table F-VIII (Appendix, p. 87), large numbers of organisms in three cases and a com- 

 paratively low number in the others. The percentage of loosely bound nitrogen in 

 these samples varied with the bacterial count; two samples, for instance, containing 

 950, 000 and 63,000,000 organisms per gram, had 0.0018 and 0.0031 per cent ammonia- 

 cal nitrogen, respectively, on the wet basis. The latter amount is not ordinarily 

 found in food eggs. 



In order to study the various classes of eggs making up breaking stock, lots of 

 15 dozen each were broken in a clean manner by expert graders. The counts were 

 less than 25,000 in two portions of firsts, under 110,000 in two lots of seconds, and 

 2,200,000 in one sample of checks. The amount of ammoniacal nitrogen in all of 

 the samples was in accordance with that found in good food eggs. It would be ex- 

 pected that the counts would be low in the firsts, somewhat higher in the seconds, 

 and still greater in the hot-weather checks. Since all receipts become lower in 

 quality as the season advances, the July firsts are not comparable with April firsts. 

 For this reason the percentage of ammoniacal nitrogen is lower in April than in 

 July eggs. 



Visit No. 6 (August 12 to 17). 



The sixth trip to this plant was made during the week beginning August 12, 1912, 

 when, owing to the lateness of the season, the receipts had decreased considerably. 

 The management was now breaking 51.9 per cent firsts, 27.9 per cent seconds, and 20.2 

 per cent checks. On account of the extreme warm weather the egg supply contained 

 a large percentage of low-grade eggs, among which were many blood rings and eggs 

 with broken yolks. 



The vitelline membranes were so weak that it was a difficult matter to separate the 

 eggs into white and yolk, consequently the larger proportion were canned in the form 

 of whole eggs. 



The bacteriological and chemical results of four samples taken from the breaking 

 tables proved, as shown in Table 21, that the grading was done accurately. The counts 

 of whites, yolks, and soft eggs were reasonably low and that of the second-grade product 

 very high. 



The bacterial content of four samples of sugared yolk was low except in one case 

 (Table F-VII). Since a large percentage of the output now consisted of whole eggs, 

 several samples were taken of this product after it was mixed in the churns. Table 

 F-IX (Appendix, p. 88) shows that the count was not unusually high in any case and 

 that the percentage of ammoniacal nitrogen was in accordance with the amount found 

 in good breaking stock. 



A laboratory study was made of nine samples of liquid egg broken from three different 

 classes of eggs making up the breaking stock. The eggs were broken in the packing 

 house in a clean manner and graded carefully. From a bacteriological and chemical 

 viewpoint the quality of the liquid product was very good, with the exception of two 

 samples of cracked eggs and seconds (Nos. 4904 and 4908). The data substantiating 

 this conclusion are correlated in Table 22. 



Table 22. — Different classes of eggs used for breaking stock (F house, 1912, visit No. 6). 



Sample 

 No. 



Description of sample. 



Date of 

 collec- 

 tion. 



Bacteria per gram 

 on plain agar in- 

 cubated at— 



Gas-pro- 

 ducing 

 bacteria 



Ammoniacal 



nitrogen (Folin 



method). 



Mois- 

 ture. 



20° C. 



37° C. 



in lactose 

 bile. 



Wet 

 basis. 



Dry 

 basis. 



4904 





Aug. 5 



5,000,000 



600,000 



4,800,000 



850, 000 



7,000 



240,000 



17, 500 



400, 000 



450,000 



5,100,000 



600, 000 



4,200,000 



800, 000 



6,500 



240, 000 



Oat 1,000 



36,500 



420,000 



100,000 



1,000 



1, 000, 000 



10 



1,000 



1C0 



10 



100 



10 



Per. ct. 



Per. ct. 



Per. ct. 

 71.41 



4905 



do 







70.98 



4908 



Cracked eggs, 30 dozen 



...do 



0. 0021 



0.0064 



67.33 



4909 



do 



...do.... 



71.60 



4912 

 4915 

 4916 



Current receipts, 30 dozen . . . 

 Current receipts, 12 dozen. . . 

 do 



...do 



Aug. 6 

 .. do.... 



.0016 

 .0016 



.0060 

 .0057 



73.32 

 72.05 



4944 





Aug. 8 

 Aug. 7 









4936 





.0015 



.0053 



71.62 









