Eggs Through The Eyes Of A Grader

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 13 May 1961, Page 7

Eggs Through The Eyes Of A Grader

“If producers really want to make an industry and really want to sell their eggs to the very best advantage, they need to know not only what they are doing right but also what they are doing wrong, and who better can tell them than their egg grader?” asked Mrs B. Newton. grading supervisor of Combined Co-operative Distributors, Christchurch, in a paper which she presented at the final day of the poultry farmers' refresher course at Canterbury Agricultural College this week. “After all, if you want to know the truth about a man

you do not ask the man himself,” said Mrs Newton. “He will only tell you what he would like you to believe about him. Ask his wife instead.” Mrs Newton said most producers were just a name on a grading slip to the average grader but others stood out in the minds of girl.graders. These exceptions included suppliers ' whose eggs were of top class. The shells were good and firm, the eggs were spotlessly clean and had the lovely silky bloom that made them a pleasure to handle. The eggs were carefully packed, the cards neatly made out and the whole line passed through the grading machine without a stoppage. “There are such lines but they are very, very few.” continued Mrs Newton. “So few that when we come across them the girls ask: ‘Whose line were they?’ They are noticed because of their sheer excellence and the supplier becomes one of the select few whose name means something to the grading staff. “The industry will only really achieve success when that type of supplier is so commonplace that the grading staff stops taking notice of him. “The other variations from the common run are, I am afraid, not to the credit of the producers concerned. Some are known because of the high percentage of cracked eggs and weak chalky shells: some because of the generally grubby appearance of their eggs; arid some because of the high percentage of interior faults—sunken yolks, watery and tremulous whites.

“The grading girls notice these because of the frustrating job they have in sorting them out into a decent marketable grade Mrs Newton said the hardest problem for the grader was the indifferent egg. If the egg was really bad the tester could pick it in a flash, and if an egg was really good it was no trouble to test. Unfortunately, however, there were a lot of eggs that came into the ’inbetween’ category. “I have been associated

with egg grading for quite a few years now and have seen many eggs in that time. I consider that with a little extra care, the presentation of eggs could be considerably improved.” said Mrs Newton. “I realise that some eggs break down for reasons that are difficult to trace. I do know on the other hand, that a lot of eggs are rejected for reasons that can be easily corrected. “A clean egg, for instance, has to be clean, not just neai enough. Hairline cracks artdifficult to detect other than over lights, but attention to shell texture and just that extra little bit of care in collecting, washing, and conveying, could prevent a lot of them.”