52 BULLETIN 224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Intermediate numbers of bacteria were obtained from the yolks broken from a mix- 
ture of the different classes of eggs. The chemical analysis in all cases indicated but 
a small amount of protein decomposition. 
Six samples of soft egg from the mixing churns and buckets contained, as-shown in 
Table F—-VIITI (Appendix, p. 87), large numbers of organisms in three cases and a com- 
paratively low number in the others. The percentage of loosely bound nitrogen in. 
these samples varied with the bacterial count; two samples, for instance, containing 
950,000 and 63,000,000 organisms per gram, had 0.0018 and 0.0031 per cent ammonia- 
cal nitrogen, respectively, on the wet basis. The latter amount is not ordinarily — 
found in food eggs. 
In order to study the various classes of eggs making up breaking stock, lots of 
15 dozen each were broken in a clean manner by expert graders. The counts were 
less than 25,000 in two portions of firsts, under 110,000 in two lots of seconds, and 
2,200,000 in one sample of checks. The amount of ammoniacal nitrogen in all of 
the samples was in accordance with that found in good food eggs. It would be ex- 
pected that the counts would be low in the firsts, somewhat higher in the seconds, 
and still greater in the hot-weather checks. Since all receipts become lower in 
quality as the season advances, the July firsts are not comparable with April firsts. 
For this reason the percentage of ammoniacal nitrogen is lower in April than in 
July eggs. 
Visit No. 6 (August 12 to 17). 
The sixth trip to this plant was made during the week beginning August 12, 1912, 
when, owing to the lateness of the season, the receipts had decreased considerably. 
The management was now breaking 51.9 per cent firsts, 27.9 per cent seconds, and 20.2 
per cent checks. On account of the extreme warm weather the egg supply contained 
a large percentage of low-grade eggs, among which were many blood rings and eggs 
with broken yolks. 
The vitelline membranes were so weak that it was a difficult matter to separate the 
eggs into white and yolk, consequently the larger proportion were canned in the form 
of whole eggs. 
The bacteriological and chemical results of four samples taken from the breaking 
tables proved, as shown in Table 21, that the grading was doneaccurately. The counts 
of whites, yolks, and soft eggs were reasonably low and that of the second-grade product 
very high. 
The batons content of four samples of sugared yolk was low except in one case 
(Table F-VII). Since a large percentage of the output now consisted of whole eggs, 
several samples were taken of this product after it was mixed in the churns. Table 
F-IX (Appendix, p. 88) shows that the count was not unusually high in any case and 
that the percentage of ammoniacal nitrogen was in accordance with the amount found 
in good breaking stock. 
A laboratory study was made of nine samples of liquid egg broken from three different 
classes of eggs making up the breaking stock. The eggs were broken in the packing 
house in a clean manner and graded carefully. From a bacteriological and chemical 
viewpoint the quality of the liquid product was very good, with the exception of two 
samples of cracked eggs and seconds (Nos. 4804 and 4908). The data substantiating 
this conclusion are correlated in Table 22. 
TABLE 22.—Different classes of eggs used for breaking stock (F house, 1912, visit No. 6). 
Bacteria per gram | Ammoniacal 
on plain agar in- | Gas-pro- | nitrogen (Folin 
ated Date of | cubated at— cucine method). Ae 
“Ne. | Description of sample. collec- feed a ane 
‘ tion Tlerto : 
° ° * Se Wet D 
20° C. 37° C. e A eistl eAGis 
Per.ct.| Per. ct.| Per. ct. 
4904 | Seconds, 30 dozen.....--..--- Aug. 5 |5,000,000 |5,100,C00 } 100,000 |.....---]..---..- 71. 41 
AQ: [2S O22 Gols LTE IN eo ee suet aee doce: 600,000 | 600,000 15 OOO *|kE 7 s5ee 5 ee Oe 70. 98 
4908 | Cracked eggs, 30 dozen....--]--- do: 4, 300, 000 |4, 260,000 |1, 000,000 | 0.0021 | 0. 0064 67. 33 
4909 |..--- CLO pes eee ino dae oe doze 850, 000 0 10s oee see ieeeeene 71. 60 
4912 | Current receipts, 30 dozen...|... doweze 7,000 6, 500 1,000 | .0016]} .0060 73. 32 
4915 | Current receipts, 12 dozen...| Aug. 6] 240,000 | 240,000 1c0 | .0016| .0057 72.05 
4916)}|22 5-2 GOsrey-ceeercere setae alee domeee 17,500 | 0 at 1,000 OP 2 eos eesey ie eee ere ete 
4944 |....... podocs sscoddtac sped oee Aug. 8 | 400,000 36, 500 WVU MN esesce Solesocssds|lsssee- - 
AOSG dl Ere mereainetrsine aici yale cio fe He Aug. 7] 450,000} 420,000 10] .0015} .0053 71. 62 
