PRESERVATION OF EGGS BY COLD STORAGE. 5 
RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION. 
EFFECT OF CONDITION OF SHELL UPON PRESERVATION. 
The losses in commercial fresh eggs with clean, sound shells were 
found to be negligible during a storage period of 11 months. In the 
experiment reported in Table 2 and figure 1, the bad eggs detected by 
eandling and breaking did not amount to more than five eggs per case 
at any time during the storage period. The principal types of bad 
eges found were green whites, crusted yolks, moldy eggs, mixed 
rots, and white rots (Table 3). The first two types mentioned are 
characteristic of washed eggs after stormg. Unfortunately it is not 
possible to detect all washed eggs by inspection of the shell before 
storing. 
Tf the shell of a fresh egg is dirty its liability to spoilage during 
holding in cold storage is markedly increased. A typical lot stored 
in April showed on monthly withdrawals from storage from Septem- 
ber to March, inclusive, from 12 to 30 bad eggs per case by candling 
and from 10.5 to 29 additional by breaking (Table 2 and fig. 1). 
Among commercial dirty eggs are found eggs soiled with feces, mud, 
and blood, as well as stained eggs showing evidence of having been 
washed or having come in contact with the wet, muddy feet of hens 
or wet nests. Bacteria and molds can penetrate wet shells, even 
though unbroken, and cause the egg to rot. Moldy eggs, green 
whites, crusted yolks, mixed rots, white rots, and black rots are the 
principal varieties of bad eggs among dirty refrigerator eggs (Table 3). 
Tt is generally known that eggs with damaged shells will not keep 
in storage. This is strikingly shown in Table 2 and figure 1. The 
most common form of deterioration of the cracked egg is through 
molding, which, in stocks stored in spring, becomes pronounced in 
September and October, and increases throughout the storage period 
(Table 4). The bad eggs developing in cracked eggs stored in April 
and May varied, as found by candling and breaking, from 44 per 
case in September to 144 per case in March. If the shells were. 
dirty in addition to being cracked, the losses were greater, amounting 
in eggs stored in April and held until December to as high as 211 to 
the case as found by candling (Table 2 and fig. 1). These observa- 
tions were made on damaged eggs present in first-grade commercial 
packages through oversight or carelessness during the initial sorting 
of the eggs for storage. The losses found would have been higher 
had the observations been made on cases containing only cracked 
eggs, for the mold growing on one egg readily spreads to other broken 
eggs (PI. II). 
These studies emphasize the importance of selecting only eggs with 
clean, sound shells for storing. 
