12 



BULLETIN 391, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTUEE. 



deteriorated yolks harmonize with those obtained in previous in- 

 vestigations.^ 



These findings also show that a very large percentage of "soft 

 eggs" consisted of sterile eggs. Consequently, the first stages of 

 deterioration in the yolks of such eggs in most instances can not 

 be ascribed to bacteria. 



Deterioration in eggs that is not due to the presence of bacteria 

 may be the result either of the action of native enzyms^ or of 

 osmosis^ of water from the white to the yolk, thereby causing the 

 vitelline membrane to stretch and become weakened. It was the 

 aim of the candlers at the commission houses to exclude eggs with 

 adherent yolks or addled contents, but through error in candling a 

 few of such eggs were present in the samples. 



Part III of Table V shows that a larger proportion of the eggs 

 with broken yolks contained bacteria than did those with whole 



yolks. 



, Table V. — Relation of bacteria in eggs to condition of yolk. 



I. EGGS CONTAINING BACTERIA. 



Description of yolk. 



Number 

 examined. 



Number 

 positive. 



Per cent 

 positive. 



Whole 



1,588 

 441 

 23 



168 

 100 

 10 



10.6 





22.7 



Adherent or addled 



43.5 







Total 



2,052 



278 



13.5 







II. VARIATION IN BACTERIAL CONTENT OF EGGS CONTAINING BACTERIA. 





Number of bacteria per cc. 





Description of yolk. 



101 to 

 1,000. 



1,001 to 

 10,000. 



10,001 to 

 50,000. 



50,001 to 

 100,000. 



100,001 to 

 500,000. 



Over 

 500,000. 



Total 

 num- 

 ber of 





Num- 

 ber of 

 eggs. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber of 



eggs. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber of 



eggs. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 eggs. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 eggs. 



Per 

 cent. 



Num- 

 ber of 



eggs. 



Per 

 cent. 



eggs. 



Whole 



54 



21 



1 



32.1 

 21.0 

 10.0 



28 

 15 

 2 



16.7 

 15.0 

 20.0 



20 

 16 



11.9 

 16.0 



11 



8 



1 



6.5 

 8.0 

 10.0 



19 

 12 



1 



11.3 

 12.0 

 10.0 



36 



28 



5 



21.4 

 28.0 

 50.0 



168 





100 





10 











Total 



76 





45 





36 





20 





32 





69 





278 







III. EGGS CONTAINING ORGANISMS FERMENTING LACTOSE BILE. 



Description of yolk. 



Number 

 examined. 



Number 

 positive. 



Per cent 

 positive. 



Whole ; 



1,527 

 431 

 22 



30 

 21 

 5 



2.0 





4.9 





22.8 







Total 



1,980 



56 



2.8 







1 U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 51, pp. 29, 30, 53, 54. 



s U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Cir., 104, pp. 4, 5. 



3 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Cu-., 83, p. 3. 



