COMMEECIAL EGGS IX THE CEXTKAL WEST. 65 
MUSTY EGGS. 
The eggs called musty by the bakers have a strong odor, very 
j)enetrating and persistent, becoming more pronounced Tvhen 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, when they are most conmion. 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 2S. stmimarizing the total bacterial con- 
tents of individual eggs ox^ened aseptically in the laboratory, shows 
that the greatest percentage of second-grade food eggs examined, 
the mediiun stale eggs, hatch-spot eggs, heavy rollers, dirty eggs, 
cracked eggs, and eggs with yolk jDartially 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 apjDcarance 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 imexpected fact that B. coll 
were not present in the whole-shelled second-gTade 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.T 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 
blact rots, B. coll were present in but few of the eggs. 
17625°— 14 5 
