36 BULLETIN 224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
reliance can not, therefore, be placed on them, but they do serve to show a trend which 
is later confirmed when the same criticisms of technic can not be made. 
The eight samples of liquid whole egg to determine progressive contamination had 
a variation in bacterial count ranging from 140,000 organisms per gram to 1,500,000 
and in the number of B. coli from 0 to 10,000. 
The final dried products of the two series of experiments had, as listed in Table E-I 
(Appendix, p. 66), under samples Nos. 4177 and 4191, a count of 1,300,000 in the ~ 
first case and 430,000 per gram in the second. The number of B. coli in sample 
No. 4177, before and after drying, was 1,000 per gram; in No. 4191, 10,000 per gram ~ 
before drying and none afterwards. They had probably been killed by heat during 
desiccation. Three other samples of dried egg taken during this period had bacterial 
contents similar to specimen No. 4177. 
Immediately after the desiccated.ege was scraped from the belt it was sifted to break 
up the flakes and to separate out the wet lumps. (See p. 15.) To insure thorough 
drying, the screened egg was placed in a bin at a temperature of 100° F. for a few 
hours. Determination of moisture in the flaky egg before and after this secondary 
drying showed practically no change in the water content. 
The wet lumps were rubbed through a sieve with the hands or by means of a grooved 
block of wood about 4 inches square and placed in a bin at about 100° F. for final dry- 
ing. The wet lumps sifted from the same run as the dried egg described under No. 
4191 had, as shown in Table E-II (Appendix, p. 68), 14,000,000 bacteria per gram and 
a moisture content of 18 per cent, both of which are distinctly higher than the corre- 
sponding flaky portion. Other samples of wet lumps taken before and after sifting, 
and after secondary drying, had bacterial counts of 2,400,000, 2,100,000, and 3,300,000 
per gram respectively. The moisture content was reduced from 17.40 to 6.94 per 
cent by secondary drying. 
~ “Visit No. 2 (May 13 to 18). 
The refrigerating had not been completed, and the new breaking outfits had not 
alrived. Since the former visit an extra set of brushes had been made for each 
drying belt, so that it was possible to have them changed between runs. They 
were always steamed for an hour instead of 20 minutes. An extra set of feeding 
troughs were in the process of making. Duplicate paris of the mixing device had 
been purchased so that one set could be washed and sterilized while the other was 
in operation. 
The breaking stock of this period consisted of about 235 cases of cracked eggs per 
day. Grading the eggs before the candle was being done well. The work in the 
breaking room was also good when the number of untrained girls and the makeshift 
apparatus are taken into consideration. 
t was customary for the girls to break enough eggs in the afternoon to cover the 
belts during the first run in the morning. The weather was so warm that there was 
bacterial multiplication in the liquid product while being held overnight without 
refrigeration, as may be seen from the bacterial contents of the corresponding dried 
products, given in Table 18. 
TABLE 18.—Effect of lack of refrigeration of liquid stock upon bacterial content of dried 
product (E house, 1912). 
COMMERCIAL SAMPLES OF DRIED EGG PREPARED FROM LIQUID EGG HELD AT 
ROOM TEMPERATURE OVER NIGHT. 
Bacteria per gram on Gas-pro- 
Date of | Plain agar incubated at— | ducing bac-| Liquefying 
Sample No. Visit.| collec- teria per | organisms 
tion. gram in lac-} per gram. 
20° C. 37° C. tose bile. 
EE te SAA Sees See oe he Ht 5 2| May 1 9, 200, 000 5, 000, 000 100, 000 300, 000 
AOGG Rater meron endo PNET Sane an 2| May 3] 15,000,000] 11,000,000 10,000 | 0 in 10,000 
TOT Se ae AR ey oe aT 3| May 21] 5,300,000] 1,300,000 10, 000 20, 
GD esa ea REE | 3] May 23] 7,100,000] 1,400,000 10,000 20, 000 
COMMERCIAL SAMPLES OF DRIED EGG PREPARED FROM LIQUID EGG IMMEDIATELY 
AFTER BREAKING. 
70, 000 
May 6 ; 
May 8 0 in 10,000 
2a fis b cttiood ab rbSdoaase Naess Sea eAooe 2 
2 000 
1, 100, 000 
00, 
900, 000 10, 000 
550, 000 10, 
