PREPARATION OF FROZEN AND DRIED EGGS. 3 
care in the candling room. Many bad eggs that should have been thrown aside by 
the candler were sent to the breaker, complicating her work, soiling the apparatus 
and, ultimately, finding their way, to a certain extent, to the food product, because 
her ideas of economy would not permit her to discard a large percentage of eggs, and 
therefore, unconsciously, she lowered her standard for food eggs. 
Grading eggs, either before the candle or out of the shell, requires close attention, 
yet there was almost unrestricted talking, laughing, or whistling in both candling and 
breaking rooms. It was not possible to check the work of the individual candlers or 
breakers, since identities were promptly lost. Such a condition made for carelessness, 
as a lack of responsibility always does. 
The speed of candling or breaking is a factor which must be considered from two 
viewpoints. If the workman soldiers or is unnecessarily slow, the cost of the work 
performed is unnecessarily high; on the other hand, if he works too rapidly he is 
sure to misgrade or do dirty work. It was, therefore, necessary to make a study of 
speed that both the quality of the product and the cost of production might be put on 
a more definite basis. 
The investigation at the close of the season of 1911 had resolved itself into the fol- 
lowing problems: (1) The construction of suitable rooms for the housing of the indus- 
try ek of suitable equipment to insure cleanliness; (2) the grading of the eggs by 
candlers and breakers; (3) the keeping of the product after preparation and its be- 
havior in the bakery; (4) the establishment of a system based on scientific observa- 
tions by which an employee should do a full day’s work that will result in a product 
of definite and uniform quality. The work of the season of 1912 endeavored to solve 
these questions. The story of the work along the lines indicated follows. 
PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL WORK OF 1912. 
The experiments and observations made in the six houses during the season of 
1911 showed that certain forms of construction and equipment and certain methods 
of operation are necessary for the preparation of clean, wholesome frozen and desic- 
cated eggs. In order to make practical application of this information, arrange- 
ments were made to work cooperatively with the management of three of the houses 
while remodeling their construction and equipment, making observations, and assist- 
ing in the organization of methods of operation. 
Since the laboratory studies during the season of 1911 represented the product 
prepared under old conditions, bacteriological and chemical samples were taken in 
D, E, and F houses which were under observation during 1912. The bacteriological 
and chemical examinations of the samples were made, as in 1911, in the Omaha 
Food and Drug Inspection Laboratory. The results of the laboratory studies were 
applied practically, when possible, to improve the quality of the commercial product 
and to learn which eggs should be conserved for food purposes and which should not. 
REMODELING OF CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT. 
The plans for remodeling the construction and the equipment of the three houses 
were founded on the following general principles: 
1. In order to prevent deterioration of eggs after receipt, the holding room, candling 
room, and breaking room should be insulated and refrigerated. A temperature of 30° 
F. to 32° F. should be maintained in the first, 50° F. to 55° F. in the second, and 60° 
F. to 65° F. in the third. The chilling of the candling and breaking rooms is to pre- 
vent the sweating of the eggs after they are removed from the chill room. Since the 
candlers and breakers spend the entire working day in the candling and breaking 
rooms, it is necessary that both be ventilated. The breaking room and wash room 
should be built with nonabsorbent walls and floor and should have an abundant sup- 
ply of natural light. The washroom should be separate from the breaking room and 
should have a floor sloping toward a drain. 
2. The most important piece of equipment in the candling room is the egg candle. 
It should be supplied with a strong, white light and with openings from three-fourths 
to one and one-fourth inches in diameter. 
3. The apparatus in the breaking room should be of metal, or of a material permit- 
ting of absolute cleanliness. The table should have metal legs and a nonabsorbent 
top, such as monel metal, zinc, galvanized iron, or glass. The breaking trays should 
be made of a metal which will not rust. The tray should be constructed with a 
removable breaking knife, with a support for the cups, so that they will not set in 
the drip collecting from the knife and so that they will not set directly under the 
knife. The cups should be transparent, not opaque. The egg mixers, preferably, 
should be surrounded with brine and so constructed that they will permit of steam 
sterilization for 20 minutes. 
4. The wash room should be supplied with hot and cold water and equipped with 
sinks and sterilizers. 
