24 



BULLETIN 391, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGEICULTUEE. 



Soft eggs found when commercially separating eggs into wliite and 

 yolk usually contain more bacteria and more ammoniacal nitrogen 

 than do edible frozen whole eggs, as may be seen from Table XII, 

 which summarizes the laboratory findings in commercial products. 



The guiding principle to be followed in the grading of soft eggs 

 is to reject every egg that has an odor or a yolk which shows any 

 signs of deterioration other than the rupture of the vitelline 

 membrane. 



EGGS WITH GREEN WHITES. 



Eggs with green whites constituted 10.5 per cent of the rejected 

 eggs, and 66.6 per cent of these were seriously contaminated. These 

 results are in agreement with those obtained in a more exhaustive 

 study of this type of egg.^ The six sterile eggs in the table were 

 eggs in which the opalescence characteristic of fresh whites was 

 confused with the "beginning green" of a green white egg. 



WHITE AND MIXED ROTS. 



White and mixed rots, or eggs with the yolk partially or entirely 

 mixed with the white, are advanced forms of the soft egg. These 

 eggs are generally recognizable before the candle. Only 19 passed 

 the candlers at the commission house into the experimental samples. 

 They showed much more infection than did the soft eggs.^ 



Table XIII. — Eggs rejected during grading. 

 I. VARIATION IN BACTERIAL CONTENT. 





Number of bacteria per cc. 



M 



Description of 

 sample. 



to 100 



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 



1 



o 



Eh 





jD S) 



a t* 



a 

 S 



la 



1 

 I 



la 



d t^ 



C CD 



d 



Ph 



la 



d 



a s? 



d 



O) 



la 

 agf 



d 



la 



2;° 



1 

 Ph 



Eggs with abnormal 

 odor, not musty 



21 

 42 

 26 

 b 

 6 

 6 



2 



9 



46.7 

 93.3 

 81.3 

 33.3 

 54.5 

 75.0 



66.7 

 100.0 







1 



2.2 



2 



4.4 



1 



2.2 



7 

 2 



15.6 

 4.5 



13 



28.9 



45 



Musty eggs 



1 



2 



2.2 

 6.3 



45 



Soft eggs 







1 



3.1 







3 

 12 



1 

 2 



9.4 

 66.7 



9.1 

 25.0 



32 



Eggs with green whites. 

 Mixed rots 















18 







2 



18.2 







1 



9.1 



1 



9.1 



11 



White-rots 











8 



Eggs with adherent 

 yolks 



1 



33.3 



















3 



Miscellaneous 























9 































Total 



118 



69.0 



4 



2.3 



3 



1.8 



3 



1.8 



2 



1.2 



10 



5.8 



31 



18.1 



171 







1 U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 51, pp. 57-61. 



2 The results of other exarmnations of white and mixed rots are given in U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 51, pp. 

 29, 30, 53, 54. 



