‘12 BULLETIN 775, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. . 
RELATION OF MONTH OF STORAGE TO NUMBER OF BAD EGGS IN COLD STORAGE 
FIRSTS AND SECONDS. 
‘Market firsts,’ commercially packed for storage in April, May, 
June, and July, were studied for three consecutive seasons. It may 
be seen trom Table 7 and figure 3 that the April and May commercially 
packed eggs showed a low number of bad eggs more uniformly during 
the course of the storage period than did the June and July commercial 
stocks. This may be accounted for by the fact that most of the 
spring eggs on the market are fresh, are not shrunken, and have not 
been exposed to high temperatures before storing. Some of the com- 
mercial summer firsts, for example, Experiments 41782, 41941, and 
41787, contained no more bad eggs after storing than did the com- 
_Inercial spring firsts. On the other hand, Experiments 41918, 41922, 
and 41945 showed heavy losses, even after a comparatively short 
period of storage. Indeed, it would not pay to carry such low-quality 
eggs in storage longer than the fall months. In commercial practice 
very few eggs are stored in summer, and practically all are withdrawn 
_ by November or December. In fact, in the summer when the general 
supply is poor in quality, dealers frequently draw from the spring 
stock in storage to fill orders requiring eggs of good quality. 
On withdrawal from storage between November and March, com- 
mercial spring and high-grade summer firsts showed usually from 12 
to 18 bad eggs per case by candling, with from 2 to 6 additional by 
breaking. On the other hand, summer seconds and low-grade com- 
mercial summer firsts, when withdrawn from storage between No- 
vember and March, ordinarily contained from 18 to 42 bad eggs per 
case, as determined by candling, and from 6 to 12 more as found by 
breaking (Tables 7 and 8 and fig. 3). 
Undergrade eggs, consisting of those which are dirty, small, 
shrunken, and heated, usually are marketed directly in the shell or 
used in the preparation of frozen and dried products. These grades 
of eggs are very seldom stored, exceptforshort intervals, as theindustry 
realizes that they do not keep well in storage for long periods. It is 
frequently convenient for the management of egg-breaking plants to 
buy large quantities of seconds in the spring when eggs are plentiful 
‘and cheap, to store for one or two months, and to open when the 
supply of these eggs on the market is short and when otherwise the 
breaking room would be practically idle. This practice is warranted 
only for very short intervals. There may be no appreciable increase 
in bad eggs during a storage period of four or five months, but the 
general quality is much lower because of increased staleness and 
higher bacterial content.1_ Because deterioration has already begun, 
summer seconds should not be stored, even for short periods; they 
should be sold for immediate consumption or promptly broken 
and frozen. In short, for successful preservation in storage in the 
shell, eggs, like other perishable products, must initially be in prime 
condition. 
1 Unpublished results. 
