PREPARATION OF FROZEN AND DRIED EGGS. 63 
A second shipment of checked eggs, which had been in commerce, as was the other 
shipment cited, but obtained from a different shipper, gave similar results. The 
product was of lower quality than the average output of this house; hence the pur- 
chase of such eggs was promptly discontinued. 
Visit No. 6 (August 19 to 24). 
The sixth and last visit was made when, owing to the lateness of the egg-laying 
season, the receipts were very light. 
The candlers had become careless because the tag system of checking had been 
abolished when the force was decreased. The work of the breakers, however, was 
as good as during the last visit, because the organization and routine of the breaking 
room was not changed even though the number of girls had been reduced. 
The quality of the breaking stock had not improved, consequently the counts of 
samples procured on the fifth and sixth visits were practically the same; the average 
count of the 10 samples of mixed egg taken the latter half of July was 1,400,000 per 
gram; of the same number of samples collected during the visit under discussion, it 
was 1,700,000 organisms per gram (Table D-II, Appendix, p. 96). 
During this visit a gravity type trough separator for whites and yolks was tried. 
This device did not prove mechanically successful for separating warm-weather eggs. 
Samples of white and yolk separated by the trough method, both during its experi- 
mental stage and after its perfection, gave the counts listed in Table 29. If the results 
under visits 2 and 5 be comnared with the counts for similar periods in Table D-III 
(Appendix, p. 98), which gives whites and yolks separated by the shell method, it wili 
be observed that in all cases there are fewer bacteria in the samples separated by the 
trough method. This is particularly true of the number of B. coli. 
TABLE 29.—Commercial samples of whites and yolks—Trough method of separation 
(D house, 1912). 
~ Bacteria ue? Arintunipeal 
gram on plain | Gas-pro- nitrogen 
Date of | 83 incubated Hociae (Folin 
Sample rc : at— bacteria | M™metnod). | Mois- 
No. Description and size of sample. cones per gram Ganet 
mel wet | Dey 
° ° ile. e ry 
20° C. | 37° C. basis. | basis. 
Visit No. 2.. 
Per ct.| Per ct.| Per ct. 
4403 | Whites, seconds, 15 pounds.........| May 27 |11,600 150 10 |0.0004 |0.0031 | 87.10 
4404 | Yolks of No. 4403, 15 pounds.....-.)... dOese= 11,200 400 110 | .00383 | .0072 | 54.15 
Visit No. 5. 
4861 | Whites, seconds and cracked eggs, 
TOE Re tis 2 aie ee ge ae July 29 320,000 |190, 000 215 QOD eine oe alee seater ees 
4862 | Yolks of No. 4861, 20 pounds.......|.-- dozees 2100,000 |150, 000 21,000 | .0030 | .0068 | 56.05 
4868 | Whites, seconds, 13 pounds.........| July 30 |?360,000 |830,000 | 21,000 |.......|...-...]....... 
4869 | Yolks of No. 4868, 11 pounds.......|..- (0 Ko eee 2110,000 | 90,000 }20in100 | .0037 | .0083 | 55.42 
Visit No. 6. ; 
41005 | Whites, seconds, 25 pounds.........| Aug. 19 | 27,000 | 22,000 1000) ES sce eagerness aes 
41006 | Yolks of No. 41005, 15 pounds......|.-. Goi 300, 000 |180, 000 1,000 | .0029 | .0067 | 56. 66 
41011 | Whites, seconds, 18 pounds.........|...do..... 600, 000 |650, 000 0 | .0003 | .0023 | 86.96 
41012 | Yolks of No. 41011, 13 pounds....-.-.)... Gotan: 650,000 |600, 000 0 | .0030 | .0065 | 53.64 
41026 | Whites, seconds and cracked eggs, 
20) Cia EO ee Aug. 20 |490,000 |360, 000 1 OOO: (Rise: sas ih ae ee 
41027 | Yolks of No. 41026, 30 pounds...... |- 36 Se552 800, 000 |650, 000 10,000 | .0027 | - 0075 | 64. 06 
1 Comparable figures obtained by the shell method of separation (Table D III, p. 98, Appendix) vary 
oa ees to 950,000 bacteria in the yolks and from 60,000 to 1,500,000 in the whites, B. coli varying from 
o 10,000. 
2 Comparable figures from the same source show a maximum bacterial content of 650,000 for the whites, 
ai for the yolks, and from 100 to 1,000,000 B. coli—a pronounced superiority of the trough-separated 
product. 
By the shell method the egg, during the shifting of the yolk from one half shell to 
the other, is sure to come in contact with the fingers of the breaker and the outside 
of the shells, both of which, as foregoing statements have proved, are serious sources 
of contamination. By the trough method the egg, on the other hand, comes in con- 
tact with practically nothing except the cup and separator, both of which can be kept 
clean by frequent sterilizing. 
