The Dollar Hen Part 17

The enthusiastic members of the medical profession, and others whose knowledge of practical affairs is somewhat limited, occasionally come forth with the idea of an inspection of poultry carca.s.ses similar to the Federal inspection of the heavier meats.

The reasons that are supposed to warrant the Federal meat inspection are precaution against disease and the idea of enforcing a cleanliness in the handling of food behind the consumer's back, which he would insist upon were he the preparer of his own food products.

No doubt there is well established evidence that some diseases, such as the dread trichinosis, are acquired by the consumption of diseased meat. As far as it is at present known there are no diseases acquired from the consumption of diseased poultry flesh, but, as we do not know as much about the bacteria that infests poultry as we do of that of larger animals, there is no positive proof that such transmission of disease could not occur. Thorough cooking kills all disease germs, and poultry is seldom, if ever, eaten without such preparation.

The idea of protecting people from uncleanly methods of handling their foods, concerning which they cannot themselves know, is somewhat of a sentimental proposition. In practice it amounts to nothing, save as the popular conception of this protection increases the demand for the product which is marked "U.S. Inspected and Pa.s.sed."

It may be interesting to some of the reformers of 1906 to know that the meat inspection bill then forced upon Congress by a clamoring public was desired by the packers themselves. Because Congress would not listen to the packers, and the Department of Agriculture, the Chief Executive very kindly indulged in a little conversation with a few reporters, the results of which gave Congress the needed inspiration.

It cost the Government three million dollars to tell the people that their meats are packed in a cleanly manner. If the people want this, it is all well and good. The tax it places upon the price of meat is less than half of one per cent.

A similar inspection of the killing and packing of poultry would involve a very much higher rate of taxation, because of the fact that poultry products are packed in small establishments scattered throughout the entire country.

One reason that the meat packers wanted the United States Inspection, is because it puts out of business the little fellow to whom the Government cannot afford to grant inspection. A few of the very largest poultry packers would like to see poultry inspection for the same reason, but with the business so thoroughly scattered as to render Government inspection so expensive as to be quite impracticable, any such bill would certainly be killed in a congressional committee.

Any practical means to bring about the cleanly handling, and to prevent the consumption of diseased poultry, should certainly be encouraged. This can be done by the education of the consumer.

Poultry carca.s.ses should be marketed with head and feet attached and the entrails undrawn. By this precaution the consumer may tell whether the fowl he is buying is male or female, young or old, healthy or diseased. All cold storage poultry should be frozen and should be sold to the consumer in a frozen condition.

I am not in favor of the detailed regulation of business by law, but I do believe that the legal enforcement of these last precautions would be a good thing.

CHAPTER XI

QUALITY IN EGGS [*]

[Footnote *: Much of the matter in this and the following chapter is taken from the writer's report of the egg trade of the United States, published as Circular 140 of the Bureau of Annual Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the present volume, however, I have inserted some additional matters which policy forbade that I discuss in a Federal doc.u.ment.]

Because of the readiness with which eggs spoil, the term "fresh" has become synonymous with the idea of desirable quality in eggs. As a matter of fact the actual age of an egg is quite subordinate to other factors which affect the quality.

An egg forty-eight hours old that has lain in a wheat shock during a warm July rain, would probably be swarming with bacteria and be absolutely unfit for food. Another egg stored eight months in a first-cla.s.s cold storage room would be perfectly wholesome.

Grading Eggs.

Eggs are among the most difficult of food products to grade, because each egg must be considered separately and because the actual substance of the egg cannot be examined without destroying the egg.

From external appearance, eggs can be selected for size, color, cleanliness of sh.e.l.l and freedom from cracks. This is the common method of grading in early spring when the eggs are uniformly of good quality.

Later in the season the egg candle is used. In the technical sense any kind of a light may be used as an egg candle. A sixteen candle power electric lamp is the most desirable. The light is enclosed in a dark box, and the eggs are held against openings about the size of a half dollar. The candler holds the egg large end upward, and gives it a quick turn in order to view all sides, and to cause the contents to whirl within the sh.e.l.l. To the expert this process reveals the actual condition of the egg to an extent that the novice can hardly realize. The art of egg candling cannot be readily taught by worded description. One who wishes to learn egg candling had best go to an adept in the art, or he may begin unaided and by breaking many eggs learn the essential points.

Eggs when laid vary considerably in size, but otherwise are a very uniform product. The purpose of the egg in nature requires that this be the case, because the contents of the egg must be so proportioned as to form the chick without surplus or waste, and this demands a very constant chemical composition.

For food purposes all fresh eggs are practically equal. The tint of the yolk varies a little, being a brighter yellow when green food has been supplied the hens. Occasionally, when hens eat unusual quant.i.ties of green food, the yolk show a greenish brown tint, and appear dark to the candler. Such eggs are called gra.s.s eggs; they are perfectly wholesome.

An opinion exists among egg men that the white of the spring egg is of finer quality and will stand up better than summer eggs. This is true enough of commercial eggs, but the difference is chiefly, if not entirely, due to external factors that act upon the egg after it is laid.

There are some other peculiarities that may exist in eggs at the time of laying, such as a blood clot enclosed with the contents of the egg, a broken yolk or perhaps bacterial contamination. "Tape worms," so-called by egg candlers, are detached portions of the membrane lining of the egg. "Liver spots" or "meat spots" are detached folds from the walls of the oviduct. Such abnormalities are rare and not worth worrying about.

The sh.e.l.ls of eggs vary in shape, color and firmness. These variations are more a matter of breed and individual idiosyncrasy than of care or feed.

The strength of egg sh.e.l.ls is important because of the loss from breakage. The distinction between weak and firm sh.e.l.led eggs is not one, however, which can be readily remedied. Nothing more can be advised in this regard than to feed a ration containing plenty of mineral matter and to discard hens that lay noticeably weak sh.e.l.led or irregularly shaped eggs.

Preference in the color of eggs sh.e.l.ls is a hobby, and one well worth catering to. As is commonly stated, Boston and surrounding towns want brown eggs, while New York and San Francisco demand white eggs. These trade fancies take their origin in the circ.u.mstances of there being large henneries in the respective localities producing the particular cla.s.s of eggs. If the eggs from such farms are the best in the market and were uniformly of a particular shade, that mark of distinction, like the trade name on a popular article, would naturally become a selling point. Only the select trade consider the color in buying.

Eggs of all Mediterranean breeds are white. Those of Asiatics are brown. Those of the American breeds are usually brown, but not of so uniform a tint.

The size of eggs is chiefly controlled by the breed or by selection of layers of large eggs. In a number of experiments published by various experiment stations, slight differences in the sizes of the eggs have been noted with varying rations and environment, but this cannot be attributed to anything more specific than the general development and vigor of the fowls. Pullets, at the beginning of the laying period, lay an egg decidedly smaller than those produced at a later stage in life.

The egg size table below gives the size of representative cla.s.ses of eggs. These figures must not be applied too rigidly, as the eggs of all breeds and all localities vary. They are given as approximate averages of the eggs one might reasonably expect to find in the cla.s.s mentioned.

EGG SIZE TABLE.

GEOGRAPHICAL BREED Net Wt. Weight Relative CLa.s.sIFICATION CLa.s.sIFICATIONS Per 30 Ounces Values Dozen Per Per Case Dozen Dozen

Southern Iowa's Purebred flocks of 45 lbs. 24 25c.

"Two ounce eggs" American varieties of "egg farm Leghorns."

Poorest flocks of Games and 36 lbs. 19 1-5 20c.

Southern Dunghills Hamburgs.

Average Tennessee Poorest strains 40 lbs. 21 1-3 22 1-3c.

or Texas eggs. of Leghorns.

Average for the The mixed barnyard 43 lbs. 23 23 9-10c.

United States as fowl of the western represented by farm, largely of Kansas, Plymouth Rock origin.

Minnesota and Southern Illinois.

Average size of eggs American Brahmas 48 lbs. 25 3-5 26 2-3c.

produced in Denmark. and Minorcas.

Selected brands of Equaled by several 54 lbs. 28 4-5 30c.

Danish eggs. pens of Leghorns in the Australian laying contest.

How Eggs Are Spoiled.

Dirty eggs are grouped roughly in three cla.s.ses: (A) Plain dirties, those to which soil or dung adheres; (B) stained eggs, those caused by contact with damp straw or other material which discolors the sh.e.l.l (plain dirties when washed usually show this appearance); (C) smeared eggs, those covered with the contents of broken eggs.

For the first two cla.s.ses of dirty eggs the producer is to blame.

The third cla.s.s originates all along the route from the nest to consumer. The percentage of dirty eggs varies with the season and weather conditions, being noticeably increased during rainy weather.

In grading, about five per cent. of farm grown eggs are thrown out as dirties. These dirties are sold at a loss of at least twenty per cent.