60 BULLETIN 224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
All of the eggs, however, would have been chilled 24 hours before they were graded 
but for the fact that many of the vendors insisted on payment on the date of the sale. 
The present system of buying insured the grading of all eggs going to the breaking 
room. The breaking stock now included shrunken eggs candled out of receipts as well 
as small and cracked eggs. On account of the dry weather there were not many dirty 
eges at this time. There were but few badly deteriorated eggs in the supply, conse-. 
quently the work in the breaking room was not materially affected by the kind of 
work done in the candling room. > 
The maximum daily output of canned eggs at this time was practically the same as | 
the first week in May. The weather had not yet become sufficiently warm to produce 
many seconds; therefore, the supply of eggs for breaking purposes was chiefly small, 
dirty, and cracked eggs. 
In two experiments in which both the white and the yolk of the egg were exam- 
ined, the bacterial count, as given in Table D-III, visit No. 2, (Appendix, p. 98), 
was not higher than similar samples taken in April and early May. The third pair of 
samples had in the white 1,500,000 and in the yolk 950,000, a considerably higher 
count than has been observed heretofore. The B. coli also had increased decidedly. 
The higher count in these samples may be due to the fact that clean and dirty eggs 
were sent together to the breaking room. The girls who were separating by the 
shell method were instructed not to break dirty eggs, but they, of necessity, had to 
handle them and, therefore, fingers were soiled. The fact that there were more bac- 
teria in the white than in the yolk lends color to thisinference. Previously, when the 
dirty eggs were more plentiful, the candlers sorted them into lots by themselves and 
they were broken for mixed ege. 
Three samples of mixed egg from seconds, as recorded in Table D-II, under visit 
No. 2, (Appendix, p. 96), had a minimum bacterial content of 320,000, a maximum of 
950,000 organisms per gram, and a range in the number of B. coli from 1,000 to 10,000. 
These counts are considerably hicher than any found in previous samples; the amount 
of loosely bound nitrogen had also slightly increased. 
Twelve samples of mixed eggs taken each working day during the interval between 
the second and third visit (see Table D-II, under dates May 29 to June 15, inclusive), 
showed no material increase in the bacterial content and no change in the ammo- 
niacal nitrogen. In fact, many of the counts were lower. Six of the samples con- 
tained less than 400,000 bacteria per gram; the number in the other six was not over 
2,200,000. The maximum count of this series of experiments was higher than has 
been found in samples taken at an earlier date, but the average was about the same. 
Visit No. 3 (June 17 to 22). 
The third visit was made between the dates June 17 and 22, inclusive, when, owing 
to prolonged cool weather and a shortage in the egg supply, there were few seconds to 
be used for breaking. The number of girls in the breaking room had been reduced 
from eight to four, and often they worked for only part of a day. The eggs-were of 
good quality, so the grading was comparatively simple. A tanners’ grade was being 
made of the discards in the breaking room. ‘The preparation of this grade, however, 
was soon abandoned. 
At this time there were obtained eight samples of food egg, of which five were whites 
and three yolks.. The laboratory examination showed that neither the bacterial count 
nor the amount of ammoniacal nitrogen had increased when compared with the results 
obtained from similar samples taken previously. 
Three samples were also taken of the tanners’ eggs, which, as would be expected, 
were heavily infected with bacteria, the number aggregating, in some cases, more than 
100,000,000 per gram. The high amount of ammoniacal nitrogen, about treble that 
found in the food eggs at this time, indicated to what degree the material had deterio- 
rated. These results are given in Table 26. 
TapLe 26.—Commercial samples of tanners’ liquid.egg—Discards from breaking room 
(D house, 1912). 5 
Bacteria per Sct on Gas- Ammoniacal 
plain agar incubated oducin : : nitrogen j 
Sam- Dateof | at— Procteriae | Liquefying | (Folin method).| yois- | Size of 
ple . | collec- per gram organisms sam- 
T 7 . 
No. iz tion. ae aii in lactose | Peé STM. | wet Dry ; ple. 
S ; ; bile. basis. | basis. 
Perct. | Perct.| Perct.| Lbs. 
4555 | 3 | June 17 |110, 000,000 | 56,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 20,000,000 | 0.0047 ! 0.0156 | 69. 82 30 
4561 | 3 }.--do-.-..-.|150, 000,000 | 68,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 60,000,000 | .0055 | .0157 | 65.06 35 
4569 | 3 | June 18 | 39,000,000 | 20,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 6,000,000 | .0039| .0124 | 68.73 7 
