COMMERCIAL EGGS IN THE CENTRAL WEST. 3 



The eggs were from sources comparatively close to the investigators ; 

 that is, the haul was seldom more than 200 miles. Had the eggs not 

 been broken at these first, or, at most, second concentrating centers, 

 the probability is that they would have been shipped a four to seven 

 days' haul before reaching a consuming center. They were, there- 

 fore, in a correspondingly better condition because broken nearer 

 their point of origin. The field work reported was carried on dur- 

 ing the summers of 1911, when exceptionally hot weather prevailed 

 over an unusually wide territory, and 1912, which was not an un- 

 usual summer in any respect. The individual eggs, however, were 

 studied between the winter of 1910 and the autumn of 1912. 



To comprehend the egg on the market it is necessary to determine 

 first the condition of the absolutely fresh egg, that a standard of 

 comparison may be obtained, and then the condition of the eggs on 

 the market to see wherein and how much they differ from the fresh 

 article. It is also highly desirable to observe the character of the 

 eggs bought by the housewives at the corresponding time, in the 

 same locality, to see whether there are any material differences be- 

 tween the eggs broken for home cookery and those broken by the egg 

 canner who supplies the public baker. 



FRESH EGGS. 

 BACTERIAL CONTENT. 



The chemical and bacteriological characteristics of perfectly fresh 

 eggs — that is, eggs which are not more than 24 hours old and which 

 are kept in a cool place — have been given by the first author of this 

 report in a previous communication, entitled "A Chemical and Bac- 

 teriological Study of Fresh Eggs."^ In this study 150 high-quality 

 eggs, not more than 24 hours old, were examined for the bacterial 

 content in white and yolk. A strictly fresh egg is pictured in Plate I 

 (see at end of this bulletin). Aseptic precautions were used in ob- 

 taining samples and all the work was done on the basis of weight, 

 not volume, since the latter introduces a decided error in so viscous 

 a substance as egg. A summary of the results shows that there was 

 found an average of 2 organisms per gram in the white and 6 per 

 gram in the yolk when the incubation temperature was 37° C, and 

 7 organisms per gram in the white and 9 per gram in the yolk when 

 the incubation was at 20° C. It may be said that these eggs were 

 gathered between February and November, inclusive. 



Stiles and Bates,^ in a recent study of 616 fresh eggs gathered 

 between April and October, found that the average infected yolk 

 contained 271.7 organisms to the cubic centimeter and the infected 

 white 15.9 organisms. They also found, however, that in 13.99 per 



iJ. Biol. Chem., 191.0, 7 (2) : 109. 



8 A Bacteriological Study of Shell, Frozen and Desiccated Eggs Made Under Laboratory 

 Conditions. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Bui. 158, 1912. 



