THE EXAMINATION AND SORTING OF EGGS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1666, 3 February 1904, Page 71 (Supplement)

THE EXAMINATION AND SORTING OF EGGS

The egg is to the kitchen what verbs are to speech. It is the necessary adjunct of the majority of sauces, of all' turn stews, and of a large number of side .dishes. It is, in addition, a nutritious food that passes through the digestive tracts without ‘fatiguing them, and that becomes assimilated in our organism without leaving any residue therein. It contains within itself all the elements of our meals, and constitutes a true bill of fare in nfinaturo, in which bread and cakes are represented by the giucose and extractive matters, in which the albumen takes the place of roast in . which butter abounds in the form of;fatty matter, in which wifi chlorides, limepnagnesia and iron are not wanting, and in which foe cur in small quantities the lecithine and phosphates that concur in the development of tiro bones. It is, upon the whole, a coin plot© ailment which, like milk—and, iu many respects, like the grape—affords, without resistance Indigestive action, tne materials tnat enter into the composition of the blood. The newly-laid egg is entirely filled with yolk and white enveloped by a fra-* gil-e shell. It is at this moment that it possesses its highest aljmentary quali-' tie«. These it would be capable of pre- . serving indefinitely, if the tightness of the shell equalled that of a metallic box. , ; But, unfortunately, such is not the caee. ; The calcareous ebeli provided with : poses,' through which *ie Boon.-'establish-ed a cross circulation of water find; ini- • c: oho?. .The .water, leavespfche albumen, , ard t.o/ses to the cxlerioi* in the form . vapour,, while legions oL bacteria ehtwr :

and fill the air chamber formed by evap- . oration. This latter causes the egg daily to lose, on an average, half a grain of its weight. Wo can assure ourselves of this by immersing it in a quart of water ©ontaining four ounces of salt. On.the first day it will readily descend • to the bottom, on the second it will not :'■< sink to' bo great a depth, on the third it will remain near the surface, and. bepdnning. with the fifth. it will project above the surface- the more in propor--1 tion older. ' Such behaviour of une egg in Salt may, up to a certain 'point, be used 'hs| a-means of control. The fgtss of weight would not be of so much importance if it did not keep pace wit-* V the entrance of microbes. Now. it is precisely the, injuria us action of tne latter that rosftricti'our consumption of so valu- > able a food material. Many people, not , yery sure ttf the age of the eggs exposed for eale by grocers, prefer to do without %them rather tnan run the risk of being in their purchase. j/he egg i ; trad's, ae it is carried on to-day, especially - France, .leaves much to be desired. The benefits^of co-operation applied to - V. the egg trade . appear in a striking manYner in the results -7 obtained in Denmark. •; The. Danish producers have founded .. everywhere throughout the country co--operative associations that propose to '•furnish f resheggs of good quality for oxmajority of the -'roduc;ers; are enrolled' theroiii. Regulations of. i assure the regularrSdty.' of ,the v bj>erations of such iw.v-v ■ ■•.uis. : For ©*amplo*b my-.order in: » .n'-.-br what member a; bad egc ©red, it is required that ••••••

egg shall bear the name of the mwlucer marked with a rubber stamp. Large numbers of depots are established near the railways, and to these every producer is obliged to bring his eggs at least three times a week. The deliveries at each depot are controlled by a special employee, who' has the right to refuse eggs that are several days old. The others are classified according to their size. This double operation of examination and VplaSsification is effected automatically by means of a very ingenious apparatus, which consists of a dark chamber for thalexamination by transparency and a long table provided with bars for the clasification. An endless, jointed, metallic belt carries the eggs in tne first place into the dark chamber, where they are examined by means of a lamp, and then to the table, where they are classified. With this:apparatus five girls can classify and pack twelve cases of 100 eggs in thirteen minutes. In England they have improved this machine by separating the examination from the classification.

The eggs, padded in a slightly inclined receptacle, enters cups joined to the endless belt. This latter, in carrying them into the boxes, gives them a rotary motion. The belt is actuated by a small handwheel placed to the right of the examiner. To the left of the latter there is a drawer designed for the reception of the defective eggs. Owing to such an arrangement the eggs are examined very rapidly. The operator, instead of exining the eggs one by one through —.e light; has merely to cast a glance at tne rows that are .passing over n lamp in order to eliminate the bad ones and

leave tlie others. The belt, continuing its motion, leaves the box with the examined eggs, and discharges the latter on the other side of a long inclined table. The classifying apparatus is very simple. It consists of an inclined table, one of the extremities of which has a certain: length of its surface covered with felt.; It is here that the eggs are deposited: to bs afterwards slid over the glass surface of the table. The latter is provided here and there with parallel bars that arrest the different sized eggs upon- their passage. The girls who slide the eggs over the table remove those that lodge between the bars and place them in special receptacles that flank each - of these spaces. The manufacturers of the new apparatus claim that four girls can classify and pack with it 1440 eggs in ten minutes. The Danish depositories provided with such apparatus are capable of rapidly and' surely inspecting the eggo that are brought to them by producers and of shipping only freak and perfect ones to London. They are, moreover, held responsible tc the consumer, and are heavily lined in case of shipment of defective eggs. The Danish shipments to London are daily increasing.