THE CARE OF MARKET EGGS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8348, 7 February 1913, Page 2

THE CARE OF MARKET EGGS

A, BUSINESS PROPOSITION, THE REMEDY WANTED. Eggs are a perishable food product. They do not improve with age, and no amount of handling or manipulation will enhance their quality. Manted improvements have been made in the methods of handling other kinds of foodstuffs but little has been done to improve the position regarding the sale of eggs, it would be interesting and instructive to learn the exact figure represented by the loss to the egg trade resulting from . in* ferior quality and had marketing. Eggs under average conditions take a very circuitous course in reaching the consumer. Someone on the farm gathers them when convenient, sometimes once a day, sometimes two or three times a .week. They are then put aside until such time as the grocer calls, or it is convenient to take them to. market. Then if the number available seems small, a hasty search by the children will usually reveal some hidden nests, the contents of which are often added to those already in the basket without question as to their condition or state of incubation. These eggs are for the most part traded at the country store, and there, os a rule, their quality does not improve since they are often held for varying lengths of time and stored in questionable places, and finally drift on the market in a very imperfect state of preservation and appearance. Many a storekeeper and merchant would give up the egg trade if lie could. It frequently places him in a very awkward position, because ho knows that to buy eggs is to sell goods, and if he will not pay the price Tiis opponent in business secures the trade. Few small busines men have time or means to detect the had eggs and are often made the victims of unscrupulous vendors, but they endeavour to keep the balance right by fixing their price on

a loss-off basis. Merchants in a larger way may go to the trouble of candling the supplies coming forward and thereby remove the bad, the shrunken, the broken and dirty eggs, and place the good ones in the grades where they belong, But the fact remains that it is the percentage of badly-marketed eggs that forms the basis of calculation lor average prices to the producer and consumer. The city grocer to * very large extent stakes his business reputation on the quality of the goods going over his counter, but it frequently happens that he, too, perhaps unwittingly, is responsible for the bad quality ol some of the eggs sold. It is his business to advertise his goods, hut ho seems to forget that, while eggs will not melt or run away like, butter, they are nevertheless perishable. How often do we see large quantities of eggs exposed to the sun behind plate-glass windows, or exposed to contamination in a heated store. Many a good customer has been lost through having been served with too largo a percentage of doubtful eggs, and the problem now facing producers and retailers alike is to secure a reduction in the number of eggs unfit lor human consumption. A gentleman who is in close touch with the egg trade toici the writer that when making his purchases for preserving purposes he always buys on the basis of nine good eggs to the dozen, because his experience, extending over a number of years, had taught him that this was a safe margin. but he would much prefer to buy guaranteed fresh eggs if ho could be sure of getting them. Improvement in the.care. of eggs is important from a financial point of view; in fact, it is a business proposition. There must be an enormous waste resulting from the cost of handling, packing, and transporting so much worthless, or practically worthless, product. It is deplorable that a product like eggs, so uniform, when produced, in quality and composition, is allowed- to deterioto so seriously through neglect and a lack of appreciation of its perishable nature. It is evident that, if eggs are to reach the consumer’s table in a fresh and palatable condition, the present antiquated system of handling and marketing them will have to he discontinued and more modern business-like methods adopted.