Quality of Graded Eggs at Four Grading Plants

Excerpts from the report: Because eggs which enter present-day market channels are generally higher and more uniform in quality than those marketed a few decades ago, the necessity of candling each egg individually to assign grades to consumer dozen-egg lots has been questioned. A proposed substitute is to grade by objectively measuring the quality of a statistical sample of eggs produced and handled under conditions which minimize the deterioration of initial quality. A plan employing this approach has recently been inaugurated on a voluntary basis by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Determination of interior quality on such a basis, together with the use of multiple candling to detect and reject defective eggs, has proved to be effective. Few data are available regarding the effectiveness of present-day commercial grading, by candling, of eggs received directly from farms; that is, "fresh" eggs. Such information is of value to producers, packers, and consumers of shell eggs, to government officials concerned with promulgation of standards of egg quality, and to researchers involved in developing improved egg grading techniques. This research project was designed to provide such information.