COMMERCIAL EGGS IX THE CEXTEAL WEST. 65 



MUSTY EGGS. 



The eggs called musty by the bakers have a strong odor, very 

 penetrating and persistent, becoming more pronounced when heat 

 is applied. All such eggs are sharply watched for by egg breakers 

 and discarded. Fortunately they are not very plentiful, even in the 

 early spring and late summer, Avhen they are most common. Hot, 

 dry weather seems to lessen their frequency. 



Sometimes several musty eggs will be found in the same lot ; very 

 rarely almost a whole case of eggs will be of this type. They can 

 not be recognized by the candler and very frequently there is no 

 physical sign to indicate that the egg is not good. The sense of 

 smell alone must be depended upon to detect them. 



The few examinations made of musty eggs do not justify any con- 

 clusions; therefore they are not given here. It is highly desirable 

 that further and detailed studies be made of this type of egg, which 

 is interesting from practical and scientific viewpoints. 



SUMMARY. 



BACTERIOLOGICAL RESULTS OF INDIVIDUAL EGGS OPENED ASEPTI- 

 CALLY IN THE LABORATORY. 



The first section of Table 28, summarizing the total bacterial con- 

 tents of individual eggs opened aseptically in the laboratory, shows 

 that the greatest percentage of second-grade food eggs examined, 

 the medium stale eggs, hatch-spot eggs, heavy rollers, dirty eggs, 

 cracked eggs, and eggs with yolk partially mixed with albumen, con- 

 tained less than 1,000 bacteria per gram. The occasional high bac- 

 terial content of single cracked eggs, dirty eggs, etc., could, in most 

 instances, be predicted by the appearance of the shell or by the odor 

 and condition of the contents. Such eggs would ordinarily be recog- 

 nized and discarded by the housewife or egg breaker. 



The second section discloses the rather unexpected fact that B. coli 

 were not present in the whole-shelled second-grade eggs and were 

 present in only 5.9 per cent of the cracked-shelled eggs. 



Blood rings and the last five types of eggs given in the two sections 

 represent eggs ordinarily discarded as unfit for food purposes. The 

 first section shows that 26.5 per cent of the eggs with adherent yolks, 

 50 per cent of the eggs with dead embryos, 75.9 per cent of the moldy 

 eggs, 66.7 per cent of the white rots, and 100 per cent of the black rots 

 contained over 1.000 organisms per gram. A review of the second 

 section of the table shows that, with the exception of the white and 

 black rots, B. coll were present in but few of the eggs. 



17625°— 14 5 



