60 



BULLETIN 224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



All of the eggs, however, would have been chilled 24 hours before they were graded 

 but for the fact that many of the vendors insisted on payment on the date of the sale. 



The present system of buying insured the grading of all eggs going to the breaking 

 room. The breaking stock now included shrunken eggs candled out of receipts as well 

 as small and cracked eggs. On account of the dry weather there were not many dirty 

 eggs at this time. There were but few badly deteriorated eggs in the supply, conse- 

 quently the work in the breaking room was not materially affected by the kind of 

 work done in the candling room. 



The maximum daily output of canned eggs at this time was practically the same as 

 the first week in May. The weather had not yet become sufficiently warm to produce 

 many seconds; therefore, the supply of eggs for breaking purposes was chiefly small, 

 dirty, and cracked eggs. 



In two experiments in which both the white and the yolk of the egg were exam- 

 ined, the bacterial count, as given in Table D-III, visit No. 2, (Appendix, p. 98), 

 was not higher than similar samples taken in April and early May. The third pair of 

 samples had in the white 1,500,000 and in the yolk 950,000, a considerably higher 

 count than has been observed heretofore. The B. coli also had increased decidedly. 

 The higher count in these samples may be due to the fact that clean and dirty eggs 

 were sent together to the breaking room. The girls who were separating by the 

 shell method were instructed not to break dirty eggs, but they, of necessity, had to 

 handle them and, therefore, fingers were soiled. The fact that there were more bac- 

 teria in the white than in the yolk lends color to this inference. Previously, when the 

 dirty eggs were more plentiful, the candlers sorted them into lots by themselves and 

 they were broken for mixed egg. 



Three samples of mixed egg from seconds, as recorded in Table D-II, under visit 

 No. 2, (Appendix, p. 96), had a minimum bacterial content of 320,000, a maximum of 

 950,000 organisms per gram, and a range in the number of B. coli from 1,000 to 10,000. 

 These counts are considerably higher than any found in previous samples; the amount 

 of loosely bound nitrogen had also slightly increased. 



Twelve samples of mixed eggs taken each working day during the interval between 

 the second and third visit (see Table D-II, under dates May 29 to June 15, inclusive), 

 showed no material increase in the bacterial content and no change in the ammo- 

 niacal nitrogen. In fact, many of the counts were lower. Six of the samples con- 

 tained less than 400,000 bacteria per gram; the number in the other six was not over 

 2,200,000. The maximum count of this series of experiments was higher than has 

 been found in samples taken at an earlier date, but the average was about the same. 



Visit No. 3 {June 17 to 22). 



The third visit was made between the dates June 17 and 22, inclusive, when, owing 

 to prolonged cool weather and a shortage in the egg supply, there were few seconds to 

 be used for breaking. The number of girls in the breaking room had been reduced 

 from eight to four, and often they workedfor only part of a day. The eggs were of 

 good quality, so the grading was comparatively simple. A tanners' grade was being 

 made of the discards in the breaking room. The preparation of this grade, however, 

 was soon abandoned. 



At this time there were obtained eight samples of food egg, of which five were whites 

 and three yolks. The laboratory examination showed that neither the bacterial count 

 nor the amount of ammoniacal nitrogen had increased when compared with the results 

 obtained from similar samples taken previously. 



Three samples were also taken of the tanners' eggs, which, as would be expected, 

 were heavily infected with bacteria, the number aggregating, in some cases, more than 

 100,000,000 per gram. The high amount of ammoniacal nitrogen, about treble that 

 found in the food eggs at this time, indicated to what degree the material had deterio- 

 rated. These results are given in Table 26. 



Table 26. — Commercial samples of tanners' liquid egg — Discards from, breaking room 



\D house, 1912). 



Sam- 

 ple 



> 



Date of 

 collec- 

 tion. 



Bacteria per gram on 

 plain agar incubated 

 at— 



Gas- 

 producing 

 bacteria 

 per gram 

 m lactose 



bile. 



Liquefying 

 organisms 

 per gram. 



Ammoniacal 



nitrogen 



(Folin method). 



Mois- 

 ture. 



Size of 

 sam- 



No. 



20° C. 



37° C. 



Wet 

 basis. 



Dry 



basis. 



ple. 



4555 

 4561 

 4569 



3 

 3 

 3 



June 17 

 ...do 



June 18 



110,000,000 

 150,000,000 

 39, 000, 000 



56,000,000 

 68, 000, 000 

 20, 000, 000 



1, 000, 000 



10,000,000 



1, 000, 000 



20, 000, 000 

 60,000,000 

 6, 000, 000 



Per ct. 



0.0047 

 .0055 

 .0039 



Per ct. 



0. 0156 

 .0157 

 .0124 



Per ct. 

 69.82 

 65.06 

 68.73 



Lbs. 

 30 

 35 

 70 



