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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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COMMITTEES ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

HEARING II}

BEFORE THE

SIXTY-SIXTH CONGRESS
THIRD SESSION

ON

H. R. 9521

A BILL TO PREVENT HOARDING AND DETERIORATION OF, AND
DECEPTION WITH RESPECT TO, COLD-STORAGE FOODS, TO
REGULATE SHIPMENTS OF COLD-STORAGE FOODS
IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES

Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry

Me

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
30188 alts ea [

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY.

ASLE J. GRONNA, North Dakota, Chairman.

CARROLL S. PAGE, Vermont. THOMAS P. GORE, Oklaboma.
GEORGE W. NORRIS, Nebraska. ELLISON D. SMITH, South Carolina.
WILLIAM S. KENYON, Iowa. HOKE SMITH, Georgia.

JAMES W. WADSWORTH, Jr., New York. JOSEPH E. RANSDELL, Louisiana.
JOSEPH I. FRANCE, Maryland. ED. S. JOHNSON, South Dakota.
CHARLES L. McNARY, Oregon. JOHN B. KENDRICK, Wyoming.
ARTHUR CAPPER, Kansas. PAT HARRISON, Mississippi.

HENRY W. KEYES, New Hampshire.
JOSEPH A. HDPRBERT, Jr., Clerk.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE.

GILBERT N. HAUGEN, Iowa, Chairman.

JAMES C. McLAUGHLIN, Michigan. GORDON LEE, Georgia.

SYDNEY ANDERSON, Minnesota. EZEKIEL 8. CANDLER, Mississippi.
WILLIAM W. WILSON, Illinois. THOMAS L. RUBEY, Missouri.
CHARLES B. WARD, New York. JAMES YOUNG, Texas.

WILLIAM B. McKINLEY, Illinois. MH. M. JACOWAY, Arkansas.
ELIJAH C. HUTCHINSON, New Jersey. JOHN V. LESHER, Pennsylvania.
FRED S. PURNELI, Indiana. JOHN W. RAINEY, Illinois.

EDWARD VOIGT, Wisconsin.
MELVIN O. MCLAUGHLIN, Nebraska.
CARL W. RIDDICK, Montana.

J. N. TINCHER, Kansas.

WILLIS J. HULINGS, Pennsylvania.
J. KUHIO KALANIANAOLRE, Hawaii.

2

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FROZEN EGGS.

MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1921.

Conecress or THE UNITED STATES,
JOINT COMMITTEES ON AGRICULTURE,
Washington, D.C.

The joint committee met, pursuant to call, at 8 o’clock p. m. in
room 396, Senate Office Building, Senator Asle J. Gronna presiding.

Present : Senator Gronna (chairman) and Representatives Haugen
and McLaughlin.

Senator Gronna. A joint committee of the Committee on Agricul-
ture and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture
of the House have met this evening for the purpose of considering
certain provisions of the so-called ‘cold- storage bill, House bill No.
9521.

Congressman Porter requested that we hear certain gentlemen who
are interested in the question of cold-storage eggs, or frozen eggs, and
Congressman Haugen, chairman of the committee of the House, is
really the man who has arranged, together with Mr. Porter, for this
hearing.

Of course, we were very glad to give you people an opportunity to
be heard. I take it that it is sections 2 and 6 of the bill that you
would like to discuss, is it not?

Mr. Porter. That is it; yes, sir.

Senator Gronna. Before we proceed, I will say I understand there
are representatives here from the Agricultural Department. Am I
right about that?

Mr. Porter. Yes.

Senator Gronna. Congressman Porter, since you have arranged
this, we will be glad to turn the direction over to you.

Mr. Porrer. That is very kind of you.

Senator Gronna. And we will ask you to eall on these gentlemen
whom you want heard; unless the representatives of the department
desire to make a brief statement first, before you proceed.

Mr. Morriuy. We are here merely to furnish any information that
might be called for. Congressman Porter asked us to be present, and
we have some information, if it is desired.

Senator Gronna. Very well. Then, Mr. Porter, you may proceed
and call upon some of these gentlemen.

Mr. Porrer. Section 2 of the bill H. R. 9521, subdivision (e), de-
fines the term “ article of food” as follows

(e) The term “article of food” means fresh meat, including all fresh edible
portions of food animals, fresh fish, fresh poultry, drawn or undrawn, fresh
game, eggs in shell or frozen.

The item of frozen eggs is the one in which the parties here are very
deeply interested.

3

4 FROZEN EGGS.

Section 6 prohibits the sale of any article which has been in cold
storage for over 12 months; and that date is fixed beginning at the
time when the article is first frozen, whether it be in the “United
States or not, under the subdivision (c) of section 11, which reads
as follows:

(ec) That nothing in this act shall be construed to exempt from. compliance
with all of the provisions hereof products which have been in sold storage or in a
refrigerated vehicle or in any vehicle in the course of transportation into the
United States or in cold storage or in storage prior thereto; and any such period
of cold storage or of ordinary storage or of refrigeration or of transportation in
any refrigerated or other vessel shall be included in the period of storage set
forth in the previous sections hereof; and any importer of such articles of food
shall be required to certify to any such period of prior storage or refrigeration
or shipment and to mark the articles of food or containers thereof accordingly
as required by the previous sections hereof.

Now, these frozen eggs are frozen in China, the headquarters of the
industry being the towns of Hang-chow, Yang- chow, and Nanking ©
and clearly under this bill the time begins to run from the date
when they are first frozen. This construction is confirmed by the
latter part of section 6, which says, “after the expiration of 12
months following the date when such article of food was first placed
in cold storage.”

The facts in regard to frozen eggs are quite familiar, and I am
going to take the hberty of calling four or five men who are in-
terested in the business, because the men here to- night represent
practically all of the baking interests of the country. These eggs
are used solely by the bakers. ‘There is no doubt about them being:
healthful. There are representatives here from the department who
will testify to that, and I shall not take up any more of your time, but
will call three or four witnesses and put on the record the exact
facts in regard to frozen eggs. I would lke you to hear first from
Mr. Horsfield, president of the John Layton Co.

STATEMENT OF MR. H. I. HORSFIELD, OF 90 WEST STREET, NEW
YORK CITY, PRESIDENT OF THE JOHN LAYTON CO.

Senator Gronna. Will you kindly give the stenographer your
name and your place of residence and your business ?

Mr. Horsriexp. Gentlemen, I am president of the John Layton
Co., who are the largest importers of frozen eggs. into America. We
pack our eggs in China, in Hankow and Nanking which are away
up the Yangtse River.

We commence to pack our eggs in the spring, in April and May,
and in late March, and we get our season’s quantity packed, and they
remain there until August when we have sufficient water to brine
our steamers up the river alongside of the cold storage, and take
the eggs away from there and bring them by way of the Pacifie and
the Panama Canal direct to New York.

These eggs arrive here by that means somewhere about.the middle
of October, and if this bill goes through, as it appears to be in the
bill now, it will mean that these eggs are 6 months old before they
will get here, and by the end of March or April they will be 12
months old and will be outlawed, which would prevent us from sell-
ing any eggs after that time until the next October, and bakers
would not be able to draw upon us at all.

FROZEN EGGS. 5

Then it is impossible to hoard eggs of this nature for the reason
that they are a purely seasonal product. They are packed in the
spring, and the baker buys them in the spring, and after the spring
has passed, after the 1st of June, you can not sell any frozen eggs
for the reason that everybody has contracted for their supplies. In
the autumn, if you have any eggs on hand that you want to sell,
if you should try to hoard, you would not be able to dispose of
them; you would have to keep them until the next spring; so you
would have to keep them then 12 months and you would have paid
charges of 6 cents a pound canning charges alone, to say nothing
of your interest on your money and your insurance.

Then, it is impossible to pack two seasons’ supplies at once, be-
cause when you come to the next season you practically have to
shut down your plant for a year, so that hoarding of the frozen
eges is almost a commercial impossibility.

Senator Gronna. Is your business that of buying eggs and selling
them again, or do you use them in your business ?

Mr. Horsririp. No; we buy the eggs in the shell’and freeze them
and sell them to the bakers. .

Senator Gronna. How long could these frozen eggs be kept before
they would deteriorate?

Mr. Horsrretp. The Department of Agriculture gives 24 months
before there is any change in them whatever, I believe.

Mr. Porrer. I will say that we have here Prof. Barnard to testify
on that question.

T wish you would describe a little more in detail, Mr. Horsfield,
the process of packing and freezing these eggs.

Mr. Horsrievp. They are all new-laid ege@s, as near as we can get
to them, and they are not supposed to be much over: seven days old
when we get them.

They are broken out with every possible precaution, in a sanitary
plant. We have our own white supervision to attend to the bre aking
out. Then they are placed in cold storage at a very low temperature
and frozen solid, and they are kept in cold storage until the refrig-
erator steamers come along, and then they are carried on the re-
frigerator steamer and carried across and sold direct to the bakers
in this country in frozen form.

Mr. Porrer. Then they are frozen from the time they enter the
refrigerating plant in China until they get to the baker in this
country /

Mr. Horsrretp. Until they get to the baker’s shop.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. They are frozen while on the
steamers /

Mr. Horsrrerp. Yes; we carry our steamers at between 12 and
16°F".

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. And ordinarily it takes about six
months, you say, from the time you pack them until you get them
here in this country?

Mr. Horsrievp. From the time they are packed until we get them
here. I do not mean six months in travel.

Mr. McLaucuuin of Michigan. I know; but from the time you
pack them ?

Mr. Horsrtetp. They do not get here until October.

6 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. Why is it necessary to buy these
eggs away over in China?

Mr. Horsrretp. We can get a better egg in China. In China we
only pack an absolutely new-laid egg.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. Would it not be possible to do
that in this country ?

Mr. Horsriexp. It would be possibie, but I do not think it would
be profitable, because you can get more money for an egg in the shell
than you can

Senator Gronna. Then I understand the reason you are buying
the eggs over there and freezing them and bringing them here is
because you can buy them cheaper there, is it not ?

Mr. Horsrrerp. We can buy cheaper and we can get a better
product.

Senator Gronna. How do the prices range and compare with
prices in America when you buy these eggs—I mean in percentages ?

Mr. Horsrrevp. I have not that information. - I do not know
what the difference is.

Mr. McLaueunurm of Michigan. Why are they a better product
than you can get in this country?

Mr. Horsrtexp. I was speaking of a frozen egg. The frozen egg
in this country is made largely from cracked eggs. I will not say
the majority, but a large quantity of the frozen eggs here are made
from leakers. These are new-lain eggs when we break them out.

Mr. McLaveurin of Michigan. Originally, though, they are no
better than the frozen eggs in this country ?

Mr. Horsrrerp. Originally the eggs there are no better than the
fresh eggs in this country.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. J did not get an understanding of
just what you said.

Mr. Horsririp. Yes.

Mr. Porrrr. The Chinese eggs, you could take them just as they
come and break them, and there may be 2 per cent of them are
leakers ?

Mr. Horsrratp. But we do not put them in our pack.

Mr. Porrer. You do not put them in?

Mr. Horsrieip. No, sir.

Mr. Porrer. But in this country, as a conservation measure, the
leakers are frozen ?

Mr. Horsrrerp. And packed. That is my understanding. I do
not pack eggs in this country.

Mr. Porrer. Another question. When do you make your contracts
with bakers for the sale of these frozen eggs—in what period of the
year ?

Mr. Horsrrevp. From early in the spring; around March.

Mr. Porrer. Is that a contract for the year?

Mr. Horsrierp. That means that we agree to supply the baker
with eggs up to the next spring. i

Mr. Porter. The next spring?

Mr. Horsrrerp. Yes; at a given price.

Mr. Porrer. And at that time you would have enough frozen eggs
on hand to complete that contract, in a large measure at least?

Mr. Horsrimnp. Yes; in large measure

FROZEN BEGGS. %

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. May I ask you what is the rela-
tive price that you pay there as compared with the price you pay
here, from first hands?

Mr. Horsrretp. I have no knowledge of that, because I do ee
attend to the buying end of it. My end is the selling end of it. I do
have gentlemen here who can give you that information.

Mr. McLaventrn of Michigan. There is some information coming
to us to the effect that the eggs from China are not as good as the
eggs produced in this country, due to the kind of feed that the
chickens in China are fed on. Have you any information about that ?

Mr. Horsrievp. I have not. Ihave information that our goods are
always passed by your Federal food authorities here before we are
allowed to put them in consumption. Every ship that comes in is
subject to that examination.

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. Under the pure-food law?

Mr. Horsrrerp. Yes, sir.

Mr. McLaveuuin of Michigan. When they reach this country and
are subjected to inspection they are frozen?

Mr. Horsrrexp. They are frozen.

Mr. MclLauenrin of Michigan. What does the inspector do by way
uf inspecting them ?

Mr. Horsrretp. He comes down to the cold-storage warehouse, and
he takes a bitt—an auger, as a rule—and cuts out a section of the
can, and he drives right down into the core of that can with a steril-
ized instrument and takes a sample right from the core of the can
and places it in a sterilized container and takes it home and puts it
through whatever analysis he thinks best, either bacterial or chemical
analysis.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. What is that ?

Mr. Horsrrevp. He examines it either from a bacterial count or
from a chemical analysis. That is what we understand he does.

Mr. McLaveuuin of Michigan. When they are ina frozen state and
a sample is taken from them in that way, can it be determined what
condition the eggs were in at the time they were first frozen?

Mr. Horsrigip. I think so. After they are thawed out, which does
not take long when he gets them away from the cold storage, they
come back to the natural condition just the same as they were before
they were frozen.

Mr. McLaveututn of Michigan. Your shipments reach here about
the Ist of October?

Mr. Horsrieitp. About; yes, sir.

Mr. McLavucuurn of Michigan. You make your contracts the next
spring ?

Mr. Horsrrerp. Yes.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. And you begin to fill those con-
tracts by taking from your supply that came over in October?

Mr. Horsrmrp. Yes: or if we have some on hand, the October
before. And then we do not get every pound of stuff in one ship-
ment, but our big 80 per cent shipment’ comes in October.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. It begins to come then?

Mr. Horsrietp. Yes; and then we might have small quantities sent
by way of England.

Mr. McLaueuuin of Michigan. You say you have been filling your
contracts partly with eggs that came the year before?

8 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. Horsrretp. Some of them may have been.

Mr. McLaveutry of Michigan. Is it your idea that this bill could
be so framed as to permit that ?

Mr. Horsrretp. Well, there is a certain leeway that you have to
give to the trade. They can not always tell when they will finish
their contract. If we bring eges here in October, we would expect
to get rid of the entire shipment. by early July.

Mr. McLaventry of Michigan. The eggs that begin to arrive in
October of 1919 were gathered beginning perhaps the latter part of
March, you say, 1919?

Mr. Horsrtienp. Yes.

Mr. McLaveutrn of Michigan. And immediately frozen ?

Mr. Horsrterp. Yes.

Mr. McLaveuur of Michigan. Then, the latter part of March,
1920, they would have been in cold storage, frozen, one year.

Mr. Horsrretp. One year.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. Your idea is that perhaps it would
be proper in this bill to exclude the time that they were frozen before
reaching this country /

Mr. Horsrreip. Well, I think the idea was to take the frozen eggs
out of the bill.

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. Oh! You mean altogether?

Mr. Horsrretp. Yes, altogether; as I understand.

Mr. McLavucuutn of Michigan. And then the eggs that you re-
ceive in this country, beginning the Ist of October, 1918, could be
delivered to your trade in the spring of 1920 and in the summer of
1920?

Mr. Horsrrevp. It would be a very foolish proposition to bring
eges here to hold them for two years.

“Mr. McLaveuuin of Michigan. That would be permitted; and you
yourself said that you supplied your customers, a portion of them,
with the eggs that you had carried over from the previous year.

Mr. Horsrrexp. I get eggs here this October. Well, they will last
me until next July or August. By that time I am supposed to have
them all out. But my new supphes will not come along until Octo-
ber again.

Mr. McLaventin of Michigan. Then there will be a couple of
months, perhaps, when you will be out altogether ?

Mr. Horsrtretp. Yes; or I will have to get some somewhere else. I
might be able to get some shipments from England.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. Then C hina is not your only source
of supply ?

Mr. Horsrieip. They will be Chinese eggs, from England.

Mr. McLaveuttn of Michigan. What is that?

Mr. Horsrrevp. They would be Chinese eggs coming by way of
England.

Mr. McLauenurn of Michigan. The eggs that were frozen in China
and went to England, before reaching this country, would be frozen
how long?

Mr. Horsrrevy. Well, they might not be frozen as long as those
that came direct. It all depends on the steamer accommodations that
have happened to be available. But we send our stuff right direct to
the Pacific coast.

Mr. McLaveutrn of Michigan. From China?

a ea

FROZEN EGGS. 9

‘Mr. Horsrrevp. From China.

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. Your idea is just to take the
frozen eggs out of this bill and let it apply to the domestic eggs as
-well as to the imported eggs, on the ground that the chemical test
cunder the pure-food law has shown that for 24 months an egg that has
been continuously frozen, from its fresh state up to the time you are
-supposed to put it into consumption, is wholesome and is all right?

Mr. Horsrrerp. Yes.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. You get your entire supply from
from China or England?

Mr. Horsrreip. From China or England. From China, in the first
»place.

Mr. McLaveuun of Michigan. You buy no eggs in this country
‘to freeze them ?

Mr. Horsrrevp. I have bought eggs in this country, years ago, when
I have been short or caught; but that is not our business. For in-

‘stance, you may happen ‘to have some very serious delay. One of
our steamers may break down and not get here, and rather than break
faith with our trade I might go out and buy something to keep them
going until our stuff got here. But that is not our business.

Mr. McLavenrrn of Michigan. When eggs come from China to
‘the Pacific coast, do they come direct to your place in New York, and
are they distributed from there, or do you sometimes distribute them
-along at one place and another from San Francisco to New York?

Mr. Horsrretp. We do both. Sometimes we bring them right
-across the continent, and sometimes we keep them in San Francisco
or Seattle, and sometimes we bring them halfway and leave them
halfway.

Mr. McLaventiin of Michigan. I did not know that it was sug-
gested that the frozen eggs were to be left out of the bill entirely.
‘The suggestion has been made to me that it would be proper from
your standpoint if the time of one year that is provided in the bill
‘should begin at the time the eggs were received in this country. What
‘do you say to that?

Mr. Horsrierp. Well, that would be very difficult. It would be
‘much better for us and also for the trade in general if the frozen eggs
were taken right out of the bill.

Mr. McLavenii of Michigan. In generai, there are two purposes
‘in the cold-storage law. One is that the product of one season can not
‘be carried over to another season, and the other is that the products
‘deteriorate in storage.

Mr. Horsrtetp. Yes.

Mr. McLavenurm of Michigan. If your idea was followed, you
“would do away altogether with the idea of preventing the product of
-one season being carried over to another season, as to frozen eggs?

Mr. Horsrrerp. ‘To a certain extent.

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. That is all.

Mr. Haucen. The object of packing and freezing eggs in China is
-on account of the quality of the eggs?

Mr. Horsrintp. The quality of the eggs. You get very much better

reQOS.
Mr. Haveen. There you buy the fresh eggs and pack them as fresh
egos?

Mr. HorsFievp. Yes.

10 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. Haucen. Over here you would have to buy older eggs in a state
of deterioration /

Mr. Horsrievp. Yes.

Mr. Haveen. And the price has something to do with it?

Mr. Horsrrevp. Both ways. We can sell the Chinese eg gg to the
baker here that is an absolutely new-laid egg, frozen.:

Mir. Haven. It is as good an egg as that in this country ?

Mr. Horsripnp. Yes.

Mir. Havueen. Is it so considered by the consumers or the bakers ?

Mr. Horsrrevp. Yes: I think it is.

Senator Gronna. Of course, you realize that this bill is in confer-
ence, it having passed both Houses. Now, I want to be very frank
with you and say that the question of eliminating frozen eggs entirely
from the bill is something chat is hardly debatable; I mean if this bill
is gomg to become a law. I say that in order that you may take that
view of it.

Mr. Porn pr. Yes. I thought that we would take this and see if we
could work out a measure that would relieve these men. Dr. Bar-

nard, will you make a statement to the committee ?

STATEMENT OF ME. H. E. BARNARD, DIRECTOR, AMERICAN IN-.
STITUTE OF BAKING, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

Senator Gronna. Will you state your place of residence and your
business, Mr. Barnard ?

Mr. Barnarp. H. E. Barnard. I am director of the American
Institute of Baking at Minneapolis.

For the past 15 years, up to this last fall, I was State food com-
missioner for Indiana, and chemist to the State board of health. I
have been interested in cold-storage legislation since during the
time the first cold-storage law was passed in this country. That bill
was drafted in our office and was enacted in Indiana in 1909.

Senator Gronna. Whom do you represent now ?

Mr. Barnarp. I now represent the American Institute of Baking,
which is a scientific institute founded and operated by the bakers
of the country for the purpose of giving them answers to some of
their scientific problems.

I appear to tell you something of my experience in handling these
broken out frozen eggs, under the cold-storage law of the State in
which I was working “for 15 years. I have had oceasion many times:
under that law to examine the cans of frozen eggs brought in there:
from China, and also those ie ed 1 in this countr y-

Mr. McLaveuun of Michigan. What kind of cans are they in?

Mr. Barnarp. They come in a tin ean which holds 40 or 50 pounds..
It is a can very much like a lard can. Our inspectors have taken
those samples of eggs at the cold-storage warehouse, brought them
to the laboratory, and then analyzed them, and the method of
analysis which has been follow ed is the method which has been
worked out in our laboratories and in the laboratories of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture here in Washington.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. How are they sold, by the pound?

Mr. Barnarp. They are sold by the pound.

Mr. McLaveuutn of Michigan. So they are sold by weight ?

FROZEN EGGS. it

Mr. Barnarp. Sold by weight. Because of our interest in the
quality of those eggs from the wholesomeness standpoint, we have
been

Senator Gronna. Could you tell us approximately what the prices
have been, say for the last year or the last three or four years?

Mr. Barnarp. No; I regret that I have no data on the prices. My
interest has not been an economic one, but is simply concerned with
the wholesomeness, because we wanted to know that our bakers
were using only wholesome products.

Senator Groxwa, And that, of course, should enter into the ques.
tion of prices.

Mr. Porrer. We have Mr. Ward here, of the Ward Baking Co.,
who will give you information as to prices.

Mr. Barnarv. May I say that in our experience we haye never
found frozen eggs which in any way were unsuitable for use? They
were always a wholesome product. The bacterial count and i
chemical analysis, as determined by methods which are entirely
accurate and which are set out in this bulletin of the Department of
Agriculture, have shown that the frozen eggs were a wholesome
product.

Mr. McLaveurrw of Michigan. For how long?

Mr. Barnarp. In discussing the period in which the eggs would
remain of good qualbty, scientists have finally reached a conclusion
which they have set out here in a bulletin of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, to the effect that no change in composition
occurs in frozen eggs up to 24 months. After 12 months the egg
thickens slightly. T quote now from the bulletin of the department:

“Whites near the top of the can may become pink, due to the iron
under the tin, but the egg is not injured as a food product thereby.”

But I may say, gentlemen, that the findings of the Department
of Agriculture have been confirmed over and over again by our own
investigations in our laboratory of the State Board of Heaith of
Indiana.

Mr. McLavenirw of Michigan. A. change can first be detected at
what stage—a year?

Mr. Barnarp. No change of composition occurs up to 24 months
they say. Then that is slight] y qualified by saying that after 12
months the egg thickens slihtly, but they say that the egg is not
injured as a food product thereby.

Mr: Porter. Then, in your opinion, these eggs are perfectly whole-
some up to 24 months?

Mr. Barnarp. For 24 months; yes, sir.

Mr. Porrrr. And in that you are fortified by the Department of
Agriculture of the United States?

“Mr. Barnarp. Y es, sir. There has been a great deal of work done
on that subject by investigators of the State boards of health as well
as by the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Porter. While you are here I wish you would tell the com-
mittee of the system of inspection by the United States Government
when these eggs arrive in the United States.

Mr. Barnarp. As you know, gentlemen, under the Federal food
law, laboratories are maintained at all the ports of entry of the
country where all foodstuffs which are sampled by inspec tors of the
Department of Agriculture are brought for analysis before the goods

12 FROZEN EGGS.

are allowed to pass through the customs. All of the eggs as well as
all other foodstuffs which are brought into this country for consump-
tion are subject to inspection by the Government officials at the New
York laboratory, the Baltimore laboratory, the New Orleans labor-
atory, or wherever they come in. If the goods are found to be
wholesome they are released and pass into the interstate commerce.
As soon, then, as they reach the jurisdiction of the States, they then
come under the control of the cold-storage laws and pure-food laws
of the several States. Practically all of ‘the larger States have both
cold-storage laws and pure-food laws which are adeq uately enforced,
so that these eggs not only have the examination w Gene is made of
them at the port ‘ot entry, but they are later subject to analysis, before
consumption, in the several States, by the health authorities or by
the pure-food authorities.

Mr. McLaventrn of Michigan. What is the ordinary size of a
sitatibint received from China of these egos?

Mr. Barnarp. I have no information on that subject.

Mr. McLavennr of Michigan. They come in cans of a certain
size, you say. You do not know how many cans there are, or any-
thing about it ?

Mr. Barnarv. No; I do not know; only I have seen them in the
cold-storage warehouses, piled up in considerable quantities.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. When the officials of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture at a port of entry make an inspection, such as
you have spoken of, how many samples do they take?

Mr. Barnarp. They take enough to satisfy themselves that the
eggs are all wholesome, and that they all conform to requirements.
Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. How many cans do they open?
Mr. Barnarp. That I can not say.

Mr. McLaventiw of Michigan. More than one?

Mr. Barnarp. They take more than one.

Mr. McLaveuturx of Michigan. How many more?

Mr. Barnarp. I do not know. My instructions to my inspectors
were that they should open 1 can in 20, if there was a large number of
cans.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. Did you ever work at these ports
of entry?

Mr. Barnarp. No; I am speaking of my own State work; but I
know that the Federal work is done quite as well as we ever did it in
the States, because of the fact that I think they probably have better
inspector S.

Senator SmiruH of South Carolina. You are not posted as to the
method of procuring fresh eggs at the original port of shipment ?

Mr. Barnarp. In China?

Senator Smiru of South Carolina. Yes.

Mr. Barnarp. No, sir.

Mr. Porrrr. We will show that by another man.

Mr. Barnarp. I am familiar with the methods employed in this
country in breaking out and freezing eggs, because they have several
very excellent plants i in my own State.

Senator Smirr of South Carolina. So that before they go into the
freezing process you can ascertain which are fresh and which are not
before you freeze them?

FROZEN EGGS. 13

Mr. Barnarp. Yes, sir. Modern methods of preparing those eggs
for freezing have been worked out until they are very satisfactory, in-
deed, from a sanitary standpoint.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. In how many States have you
worked ?

Mr. Barnarp. I was State chemist of New Hampshire for 5 years
and State chemist of Indiana for 15 years.

Mr. McLavenur of Michigan. Have they cold storage laws in
New Hampshire?

Mr. Barnarp. I do not know. I doubt it. They have in Indiana.
They had the first cold storage law passed in this country.

r. McLavenuin of Michigan. Did it contain a provision in re-
gard to frozen eggs?

Mr. Barnarp. No; it applied to all foodstuffs other than fruits, and
in that way frozen eggs were included in the provisions of the act.

Mr. McLaveutun of Michigan. There was a limit of time that
frozen eges could be kept?

Mr. Barnarp. Yes.

Mr. McLaueuturn of Michigan. What was that limit?

Mr. Barnarp. It was nine months; but there was a proviso that at
the end of nine months the eggs should be inspected, and if they were
found to be wholesome they were then allowed another period. And
that is the reason why I had occasion to examine so many samples
of frozen eggs, because frequently the owners of the eggs at the end
of the nine months’ period called upon us to see whether the eggs
were satisfactory.

Mr. McLaveuuin of Michigan. How long was that additional
period ?

Mr. Barnarp. Until they became unwholesome; and we never
found any. They always passed into consumption before they ran
over the age limit. i

Mr. McLavuenuin of Michigan. Did you find that in the course of
business in Indiana it was necessary to extend the time?

Mr. Barnarp. Yes.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. In the case of frozen eges?

Mr. Barnarp. Yes, sir; that is one of the few items.

Mr. McLaucuuin of Michigan. And it would have been burden-
some and expensive if you had not had that proviso?

Mr. Barnarp. It would have meant the condemnation and de-
struction of considerable quantities of a perfectly wholesome food.
About the only other items which called for reinspection were but-
ter and cheese.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. But, generally speaking, all goods
or products do deteriorate with time; is not that true?

Mr. Barnarp. That is true; but, of course, the temperature factor
must be taken into consideration. Eggs which are solidly frozen
remain in an edible condition much longer than when the temper-
ature is above freezing.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. Take those that are frozen. Does
not a change take place after a time in all food products?

Mr. Barnarp. Yes; undoubtedly a change does take place, but we
have never kept broken eggs out long enough to determine the time
when they become unfit for food.

14 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. McLavueuiin of Michigan. And, as a general thing, it is
almost impossible to tell when the change begins ¢

Mr. Barnarp. No; I think not. There are certain chemical and
bacterial methods which determine when the foods reach a condi-
tion when they should not be used for food.

Mr. McLaventiw of Michigan. My impression is that in nearly
all foods there is some change that makes its appearance in time and
that it is almost impossible ‘to tell when the beginning of the deteri-
oration takes place.

Mr. Barnarp. There is naturally a constant and steady change
from the time an apple is picked or an egg is laid—the change is
slight and is not injurious. In the case of the apple it is the con-
version of elements into some other form, and in the case of the egg
it is a slow breaking down due to oxidation for the most part of the
fat in the egg. The same change takes place that takes place m the
ripening of ‘butter, and that is not held to be at all injurious: and, in
fact, in the case of cheese, the riper it gets the better: we like it.

Mr. McLavenuuin of Michigan. The change in texture is notice-
able after a time, too, in a great many foods.

Mr. Barwarp. That is true.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. And there is a marked change as
to palatability.

Mr. Barnarp. I would not say that that is true im the case of a
frozen egg. It is true in the case of eggs in the shell after a period
of seven or eight months.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. And it is true as to a number of
other articles of food.

Mr. Barnarp. There is a change in the palatability of meats which
have been long frozen; and fish becomes dry.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. It becomes unpalatable altogether.

Mr. Barnarp. They become dry and more or less tasteless, and,
after a long periox of time, they become what they call “ tacky ”—
that is, not rancid but the oil in the fish changes somewhat.

Mr. McLavennr of Michigan. But even in that condition you
would say that there is no change?

Mr. Barnarp. So far as wholesomeness is concerned, they are still
wholesome.

Mr. MclLaveuuin of Michigan. Does that apply to canned fish as
well?

Mr. Barnarp. I would hardly know how to answer that, because
canned food—canned fish for many years is still wholesome. I have
eaten canned fish that was 10 or 12 years old. It was wholesome,
but it was not as good as it was when it was fresh. It had lost its
freshness during those 12 years.

Mr, McLaventin of Michigan. Have you ever made any investi-
gation as to the keeping of chickens in China?

Mr. Barnarp. No; I know nothing about that. I have seen many
Chinese eggs in the shell in this countr y, sold on our markets.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. Do you find any difference in your
analysis of Chinese frozen eggs and your analysis of frozen eggs in
this country that were laid in this country ?

Mr. Barnarpv. No; I think not; although the bacterial count is
probably a little lower, on the whole, in the case of the Chinese eggs
than it is in the case of eggs broken out in this country.

FROZEN EGGS. 15

Mr. McLaventin of Michigan. Because of the better quality of
the eggs in this country than of those in China?

Mr. Barwarp. You see, in this country they can not afford to break
out and freeze the best eggs. They are wanted for table use. So
that the eggs which are broken out and stored are the salvaged eggs,
the dirties and the checks and cracks, and the eggs which will not
stand shipment from Kansas or the Central States to the eastern
markets, but which it is possible to salvage by breaking them out,
and so save an excellent food material.

Mr. McLaveuuin of Michigan. Did you ever see them break them
out in any large quantities ?

Mr, Barnarp. Yes, sir.

ar. McLaveuurn of Michigan. Did you ever see them throw out
any ?

Mr. Barnarp. Yes; they throw out every egg that is not absolutely
all right, because one egg will spoil the whole batch.

Mr. McLaveutuin of Michigan. There are a good many stories to
the effect that they do not throw out any when they put them in bulk
and freeze them.

Mr. Barnarp. That may have been true if they told those stories
seven or eight years ago. It could hardly be true to-day.

Mr. McLavueuurn of Michigan. What has made the change?

Mr. Brernarp. The passage of adequate legislation. In the first
instance, by the Federal courts when the Federal food law was
passed; and, in the second instance, by the passage of the sanitary
food laws of nearly every State.

Mr. McLaveutrn of Michigan. In case of an analysis of frozen
egos where there were some that were bad and should not have gone
in, do you say that the chemists could always detect the presence of
those bad eggs?

Mr. Barnarp. I do not know whether you could detect the pres-
ence of one egg that had been broken up and mixed with a thousand
others.

Mr. McLaventin of Michigan. What proportion of bad eggs
would have to be present in order to spoil the others?

Mr. Barnarp. A very small quantity indeed.

Mr. McLavenutn of Michigan. How small?

Mr. Barnarp. I would not want to say; but the bacterial count
would run up. One of the ege tests easily understood is the am-
monia content. Ammonia in a certain form is a component of all of
our animal foods, and as food decomposes, in the case of eggs, the
ammonia becomes strong.

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. Would the absence of ammonia in
frozen eggs indicate their good condition ?

Mr. Barnarp. If the frozen eggs had not been made of good ma-
terial, the ammonia content could easily be shown by chemical
analysis, and that is one of the common tests and is set out very fully
in this bulletin.

Mr. McLavcuuin of Michigan. Would that be apparent soon
after the freezing?

Mr. Barnarp. At any time—before they were frozen, or two years
afterwards.

Mr. Porrer. One of these cans would contain perhaps 600 eggs,
would it not—50 pounds?

16 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. Barnarp. Yes; at least that, I should say.

Mr. Porrer. About 600?

Mr. Barnarp. Yes.

Mr. Porrer. And manufacturers would be very foolish to allow a
half dozen bad eggs to be put into a can and spoil the whole can.
A man could not do that and be a manufacturer very long. His
business would not last. In other words, it is to his interest to keep.
those bad eggs out of the can?

Mr. Barnarp. Certainly.

STATEMENT OF MR. HERBERT J. KEITH, PRESIDENT, H. J. KEITH.
CO., BOSTON, MASS.

Mr. Porrer. Kindly state your name, residence, and occupation.

Mr. Keirn. H. J. Keith, president of the H. J. Keith Co., of Bos-
ton, a Massachusetts corporation, and president of the Amos Bird.
Co., a Connecticut corporation.

The Keith Co. is a sales organization, incorporated for 20 years,.
selling frozen eggs that are known as Keith’s eggs.

These eggs include perhaps a third of the eggs that are frozen in
the United States. They are frozen at different places in the Middle:
West.

They also include eggs frozen in China by the Amos Bird Co. at
its plant in Shanghai and consigned for sale by the Amos Bird Co.
to the Keith Co. in the States.

Mr. Porrer. Have you been in China recently ?

Mr. Kerrn. In 1919.

Mr. Porrrr. How long were you there?

Mr. Kerrn. About four weeks.

Mr. Porrrer. Will you describe to the committee the process of re-
frigeration of eggs?

Mr. Kerrn. It is the same that we use in the States. We have a
cold storage with refrigerating machinery and storage rooms main-
tained at low temperatures, with storage for the shell eggs to cool
them before they are broken—to precool them.

Mr. Porrrr. How are they packed for shipment ?

Mr. Kerru. In cans. I have here the cover of a can. The same
methods are used that we use in the States, and those methods have
been worked out in conjunction with the United States Department.
of Agriculture.

The eggs are broken by girls. They have cups on a tray, and have.
a knife, and they break the egg on that knife and then they drop the
ege into the cup. They drop only two eggs into the cup and look at
the eggs, and smell of them to see if there is any musty flavor, be-
cause you have to be very careful that there is not any flavor of
must in the eggs. So they are always looked at and smelled, and:
then if they pass both inspections, they are put into the can from
the dipper, two eggs at a time into the can, and they pass several in-
spections on the way to the freezer. They are inspected in the cans in
which they are taken from the dipper, and then they are churned and
inspected in the churn; so that they pass the inspection of several
people before they finally are frozen.

We consider that necessary, because it would be rather fatal if
we got any musty eggs into the mixture. You can tell a bad egg

FROZEN EGGS. Le

without any trouble, but a musty egg sometimes has only a very
faint odor, and you have to be very expert to always keep it out.

Senator Gronna. At whose expense are the inspections made?
Does your company make these inspections?

Mr. Kerr. Yes; our employees, but there is another inspection at
the factory.

IT have here the cover of one of the cans of eggs frozen by us in
China, and on this and every can that we import there is this cer-
tificate :

I certify that I have regularly made a sanitary survey of this plant, and have
medically examined your employees. Both the quality of the eggs and the con-
ditions under which this product is packed are eminently satisfactory.

S: H. Ransom, M. D.

Dr. Ransom is, as it happens. the United States port physician of
Shanghai.

Senator Gronna. That is really an American inspection 4

Mr. Kerrn. An American inspection; not official, because he can
not give an official inspection, but as it happens he is United States
port physician of the international settlement in Shanghai.

Senator Gronna. Are any inspections made by the Government of
China?

Mr. Kerrn. No.

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. How do you get your eggs in
China ?

Mr. Krirn. Very much as we do in this country, by rail and boat.
Shanghai is on the Hoangpoo River, emptying into the Yang-tse
close by. Some of the eggs come by boat from the producing sec-
tions and some come by rail.

Mr. McLaveutin of Michigan. In what quantities do they come?‘

Mr. Krirrn. They come every day.

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. Large quantities every day /

Mr. Kerru. They come in baskets that look like bushel baskets in
bulk, and with rice straw in the bottom. A basket is supposed to
hold about 800 eggs, and in the spring of the year we break out
about 1,000 baskets a day. They come in from day to day, and we
cool them down and then break them out.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. From how large a territory in
China do you get your eggs? )

Mr. Kriru. From several hundred miles, perhaps up to 300 miles.

Mr. McLaueuun of Michigan. Have you any personal knowledge
as to how the chickens are kept ‘

Mr. Kerrn. Yes.

Mr. McLaveuur of Michigan. What is your experience in that
regard ¢ ite

Mr. Kerra. China is a land of custom. The Chinese live in vil-
lages with walls around them—some kind of a wall or compound.
They have fields of crops around the villages. One of the unwritten
laws of China is that each family shall keep only that number of
hens that it can feed from its table scraps, so that those hens do not
wander off into the neighbors’ crops. I do not know how religiously
they live up to that, but that is the standard, and the Chinese hen
lives on the same food that the Chinaman does. It lives on table

scraps.
30188—21——2

18 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. Porrer. That is mainly rice, is it not?

Mr. Kerrn. That is mainly rice; and I will say that I have eaten
the eggs over there, and I like them quite as well as any eggs I have
ever eaten anywhere. I think just as well of them.

Another thing I may say: 1 may be going a little aside from my
topic, but it is a physiological fact that the egg is produced from
the blood of the hen. The blood is pure, so that if the egg tastes good,
it is all right. The hen, out of pure blood, secretes the egg, and. puts
the shell on it before she lays it.

Mr. McLaveutr of Michigan. Have you made any investigation
to learn how long the eggs are kept at the place where they are laid
before they are started on i their journey to your plant?

Mr. Kerrn. In respect to that the conditions are as they are in the
States. We do not have a known history of the eggs, but we do candle
them. We do just the same over there that we do here. When we
get eggs in Nebraska, Kansas, Hlinois, or any place where they raise
hens and sell eggs in this country, we can only judge of them by

candling them ; ‘and then, having passed the candling test they must
pass the test in breaking them, both their appearance and the way
they smell. And sometimes we take something like a milk taster and
taste of them; but there is no way of knowing the history of an egg
either in this country or in China. The farmer may hold them. We
can not tell, except to tell whether they are good when we get them.

Senator Smiryu of South Carolina. The only thing that « concerns
you is the condition in which they are when you get them ?

Mr. Kerra. That is it, and we determine that in the same way that
we do in this country, and the general quality of the egg is the same
that it is here. The fresh egg is just as good as it is here, according
to my own observation in eating them, “and in breaking them out.
T have been in the business 28 years. I am one of the ) pioneers in
the business of freezing eggs.

Senator Smiru of South Carolina. You are in a position to tell
us what is the difference in the price, the general average price there
and here.

Mr. Kerru. The Chinaman is paid in silver, and a little over a year
ago, if you paid him the same amount of silver that you paid him five
years before that, you paid him three times as much i in gold. Now,
silver has gone down quite a bit, and the cost in China depends a
whole lot upon the fluctuations of the silver market. But our cost is
very largely the cost of manufacturing and shipping and paying the
duty. According to the length of time we carry the eggs we have to
add from 15 to 17 cents a pound to the cost of the raw material to get
the eggs delivered in the States. That depends, of course, on whether
we sell on the Pacific coast or on the eastern seaboard. I am figuring
the eastern seaboard cost now, on the transportation. Our prices
vary. A pound of eggs consists of about 11 American eggs, or about
12 Chinese eggs, because the Chinese eggs average smaller than ours.
Our cost in China has run from about 6 cents a pound up to about 25
cents. We have had that variation in the cost of the raw material,
which would mean that at the high point our eggs have cost us 40
cents a pound. That is the highest cost we have ever had against
Chinese eggs per pound frozen in Shanghai and brought over to the
Atlantic seaboard—about 40 cents.

Senator Smirg of South Carolina. Delivered here ?

FROZEN EGGS. 19

Mr. Weir. Delivered here; but we have delivered them at less
than that. I guess about 20 cents a pound is the least they have cost
us delivered. Those that we have on hand in the States now have
cost us about 35 cents. That is about the average cost at the present
time.

Senator Gronna. On an average, how many eggs does it take to
make a pound?

Mr. Kerrn. A dozen Chinese eggs or 11 American eggs. The
Chinese eggs are smaller than the eggs run in the Middle West.

There is one statement I should like to make

Senator Gronna. Before you go on to that, I will ask you this
question: We are on a gold basis in this country. Now, basing your
figures upon gold, how do the prices in China compare with the prices
in the United States?

Mr. Kerrn. The prices I have given you, sir, are the prices reduced
to gold. The figures I have given you are in gold, but the price of
silver has hopped around to beat the band. I have given you gold
prices.

Mr. McLavenuin. How soon after the eggs reach your establish-
ments are they frozen?

Mr. Kerrn. As soon as they are precooled. We might have a few
days’ supply on hand. Sometimes they come in faster than they do
at other times and we can not always keep up with them as we could
if they came regularly. Sometimes they come faster and sometimes
slower. We might have a few rays’ run of eggs on hand in the
baskets waiting to be broken, but we intend to break them out within
a week after we get them to the plant. We do not want to break them
out until we have got them precooled.

Mr. Porter. Do you keep them in the refrigerator during that
time?

Mr. Kerry. Yes: we want to cool them down before we break them.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. After they are broken, how soon
are they frozen?

Mr. Kerry. They go to the freezer immediately, within an hour
after they are broken, and more often within half an hour.

Mr. McLavucuurn of Michigan. How long are they frozen in China
before being shipped to the United States?

Mr. Kerra. When we begin to freeze in the spring we begin to
ship, as soon as we have enough, if we can get vessels. We ship by
the Jap Line boats, O. S. K., and we begin to ship as soon as we
have eggs enough in the spring. We have to contract for our ship-
ments usually so as to make them the year around, so as to secure
the vessels. and then we ship from time to time, and some of those
eggs may have been in China six or eight months before we get them
shipped out. Then they would be a month coming to Seattle. Then
we put them in the cooler there, and get them down to zero. Then
we ship them maybe to Chicago and put them in the cooler and get
them down to zero. Then we ship them on to New York. If it was
cold weather we would ship them right straight through from
Seattle to New York. They might be about three weeks getting
there, but on the whole it would be about two months from the time
we ship them in Shanghai until we get them delivered in New York.

Mr. McLaueuutn of Michigan. Is there any time during the ship-
ment when they are not frozen hard?

20 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. Kriru. No. We depend on the insulation and the icing of
the car partly, but aside from that we line the car with the insulated
paper, and wrap the body of eggs right up in that insulated paper,
and lap it over. Then we have the eggs at zero when we load them
in the car, and we depend on the eggs keeping themselves cold while
they are on the road, the same as ice keeps itself cold in an icehouse.
The temperature comes up while they are running from Seattle to
Chicago, but we land them in Chicago solidly frozen still.

Senator Gronna. Have you more than one packing plant in
China?

Mr. Kerrrn. Only one.

Senator Gronna. How do you get the eggs? Do you send your
own agents out to buy them, or are they shipped direct to your
plant ?

Mr. Kerrn. Sometimes we buy them from a Chinese hong, as it is
called. That is sometimes called a guild, I think, a combination of
Chinese ege@ dealers in the country. They agree to deliver us so
many baskets a day over a given period. Sometimes we maintain
branches and send out our own men and station them at places in
the country, and we send up the orders to them, and they buy them
and ship them in. We do both ways, because we want to keep check
on the comparative results.

Senator Gronna. You have had many years’ experience. In
your experience do you occasionally find a b: ad egg ?

Mr. Kerru. Do you mean in the shell eggs?

Senator Gronna. Yes.

Mr. Kerr. In the hot spell last August when we were still freez-
ing eggs we threw away 70 out of every 100 that we paid for.

Senator Gronna. That was in Chin?

Mr, Kerra. That was in China.

Mr. Porrer. When was that?

Mr. Kerrn. Last August. Thev had a blazing hot summer, and
those eggs were struck by the heat, and we threw away 70 per cent
of them that we had paid for.

Senator Gronna. So you do have losses in China as well as you
would have if you were to pack them in this country.

Mr. Kerry. Yes; and vou have got to maintain your standard
there the same way as vou do here.

There has been something said about leaky eggs. I will speak of
that. The Department of Agriculture approves of the salvaging
and freezing of eggs that are leaking from the shell in the United
States. We ‘favor that in the States, but the Keith Co. does not put
them in the same grade. We separate them and sell them for less
money in the States. We maintain the same standards with respect
to eggs frozen in the States that we do in China. We do not put
any ‘leakers into either of them.

Senator Gronna. You pack and freeze eggs both in China and
the United States?

Mr. Kerru. Yes.

Senator Gronna. In your lone experience freezing egos how are
the conditions in this « country compared with conditions in China?
In what condition do you find the eges?

Mr. Kerrn. We lose more eggs in China. We throw away more
eggs in China in the course of a season than we da here—more than

FROZEN EGGS. Ae

we used to here. Our best packing point in the United States, in
my judgment, is ‘Topeka, Kans., and we have had almost no rotten
eggs there the last year. A dozen years ago in hot weather we would
have thrown away most of them in Topeka, but the work that has
been done in the United States within the past dozen years has
brought up the qaulity of the eggs. The eggs are brought down to
the place where they are taken care of here in the States, particu-
larly, I think T will say, in Kansas—Kansas shines in that respect
at this present moment~-they are got to the place where they come
for refrigeration in a way that is amazing, compared to the way
they were a few years ago.

Senator Gronna. How far south do you go in buying your eggs
in this country? Do you go into the warmer climate 4

Mr. Kerrn. About to the southern border of Kansas.

Senator Gronna. You try. of course, to purchase your eggs as
much as you possibly can in the Northern States, owing to climatic
conditions, do you not?

Mr. Kerrn. I like them better in Kansas. I began breaking them
in Minnesota. I may be hitting the northwestern men, but I began
breaking ege@s in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and I found more musty
egos and more eggs that were off flavor in one way and another than
in Kansas. Of course, they have lots eof wheat and corn in Kansas,
but I do not know just why it is that we have less trouble with musty
eges in Kansas than we do in Minnesota. I like the Iowa eggs, and
T can get good eggs from different places, but you have got to watch
them. Anybody that is breaking eggs gets expert, the same as any-
body testing anything else. They get critical along that line. The
longer they work at it the more fussy they get, and the more they
will throw away.

Senator Groxna. Is it not possible that that may be due to the
regulations in the different States?

Mr. Kriru. It mav be.

Senator Gronna. Kansas, as I understand, has rigid inspection and
regulation. Whether Minnesota has that or not I do not know.

Mr. Kerru. You asked the question and I have answered it hon-
estly.

Senator Gronna. I might just as well be frank with you. I made
the inquiry for the purpose of finding out from you as an experienced
business man why is it not possible to use American eggs altogether.

Mr. Kerrn. I will tell you why I went abroad.

Senator Gronna. That is what I want to know.

Mr. Kerru. For two reasons. I started this egg-freezing business
92 years ago to take care of the checked eggs, the eggs that have the
shell broken but not broken through the membrane so they will leak,
eggs that are just nicked. There were too many of them, and people
would not buy them as shell eggs, and ship them around, because
they get moldy and leaked out, and that made an awful mess, and
sometimes people would not pay the freight when they were shipped
from Iowa to New York. So I started freezing them to save these
checked eggs. You get them for less money than you would if they
are not checked, but they are just as good if you get them fresh
enough. ;

It began in that way. Then the business grew. Hardly any frozen
eggs were sold when T began, but the business grew, and it outgrew

22 FROZEN EGGS.

the supply of what we call breaking stocks in this country, which
consist of checked eggs and undersized eggs and odd sizes, eggs with
the shells soiled and one thing and another, what we call breaking
stock; so we got to the point where we were breaking the current re-
ceipts, the eggs just as they came from the farms. Sometimes we
were compelled to send whole carloads to the refrigerator and break
them out to keep up our trade supply. Now, inasmuch as we were
raising the price of the breaking stock all the time, because there
were not enough to go around, other people were getting into com-
petition, and we could not sell our frozen eggs at a price that would
be very interesting to the bakers if we did not watch out.

Mr. Porter. The bakers alone use these frozen eggs, as I under-
stand ?

Mr. Kerrn. Practically they are the only users. The ice cream
people use some, and there are a few other users, perhaps, but it is
altogether a factory consumption.

Mr. McLaueutin of Michigan. The hotels use thém some, do they
not ?

Mr. Kerru. Yes; but it is for commercial baking. It is in their
own baking department. Wherever they do commercial baking they
can use them.

Mr. McLavenurn of Michigan. Do not the hotels use that same
kind of eggs for omelette ?

Mr. Kerirn. A few of them do. They are coming to it this year
more than ever before because shell eggs have been so high, and they
use the dried eggs also for omelettes, but comparatively few use them.
However, it can be done.

Mr. McLaveutin of Michigan. I presume you remember when
grasshopers were so numerous in Kansas and the chickens ate them,
and the eggs were not fit to eat ?

Mr. Kerrn. I got out to Minnesota the year after the grasshoppers
ate them out of house and home. The grasshopper plague was over
when JI got into Minnesota. I got there the year after the grass-
hoppers.

Mr. McLaueuurn of Michigan. What was the effect on the eggs?

Mr. Kerru. I was not in the egg business at that time.

Mr. McLaventr of Michigan. Do you know what the effect was?

Mr. Kerrn. No; I do not.

Mr. McLaveutuin of Michigan. You have heard that the eggs were
not good, haven’t you?

Mr. Kerrn. I did not happen ever to hear of that. T think a few
grasshoppers might be all right, but an exclusive diet might not be.

Mr. McLavenutin of Michigan. Then, what the chickens eat does
affect the quality of the eggs?

Mr. Kerru. TJ think it affects the flavor somewhat. T know it affects
the color of the yolk.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. Is there any truth in the story that
we hear about Chinese eggs, that the chickens over there are scaven-
gers?

Mr. Kerru. Just the same as they are here. The hen will pick up
anything she can get anywhere, I don’t care where she lives.

Mr. McLavenur of Michigan. It is said more as to the hens in
China than in this country, is it not, that they are scavengers?

FROZEN EGGS. ae

Mr. Kerrn. I have heard more talk about it, but I lived on a farm
when I was a boy, and I do not see any difference. I know something
about the habits of our hens that we had on the farm when I was
a boy.

Mr. Sarru of South Carolina. They are not very choice in their
diet ?

Mr. Kerru. No; but they produce a good egg, from pure blood,
in China and in the States.

Mr. McLaveutrn of Michigan. I have thought that where there
was so much smoke there must be a little fire, and I have understood
it is generally said that the chickens in China are scavengers and
that on account of the impure food the eggs were not of very good
quality.

Mr. Kerrru. They are good eggs, I will guarantee, because I have
eaten them. and it is the judgment of every man that ever went over
there that they are good eggs. We maintain a white staff in Shang-
hai, quite a number “of men from the States, and they agree that the
eges are tiptop. And with respect to the food, as I Say, . the Chinese
hen lives on table scraps, and then if she can pick up a bug or some-
thing like that, she is just like the hen in the States.

Mr. McLavantin of Michigan. I suppose there is a laying season
in China the same as there is in this country ?

Mr. Kerrn. Yes.

Mr. McLaventin of Michigan. What is the laying season in
China ?

Mr. Kerrn. About the same as it would be in our Southwestern
States.

Mr. McLaventrn of Michigan. The hens begin to lay about the
1st of April?

Mr. Kerrn. In March. You do not get any eggs in China until
after the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year is a movable
feast, like Easter. They celebrate the New Year, and it starts the
8th of February this year. After they have celebrated their New
Year then they sober up, about a week after that, and then they
begin to think about getting some eggs to market.

Mr. McLaveutt of Michigan. Then the laying season continues
about how long?

Mr. Kerrn. The hens lay there the same as they do here. You
will get some eggs in the fall and some eggs most any time, but the
heavy lay is alone during the spring months, the same as it is here.

Mr. McLaventin of "Michigan. The heavy laying season stops
about what time in China?

Mr. Kerru. They begin to lay late in February or the 1st of March.
Last year New Years came late, and it was along in March before
we got many eggs. They did not get down to the bottom until
around the 1st of April.

Mr. McLavucuurn of Michigan. Then the laying stops about what
time ?

Mr. Krirn. The heavy lay is over some time in June. March,
April, and May are the big months.

Mr. McLaveuurn of Michigan. Then your large purchases would
be during those months?

Mr. Kerrn. Yes.

24 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. McLaveuutn of Michigan. And then about what time do you
ordinarily get them to this country Y

Mr. Knrrnm. We ship them along from time to time.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. You said that they might be
frozen there six or eight months /

Mr. Keirn. They might be. So far we have been rather short of
storage space. We are “putting in more storage space, but we have
been obliged to ship them out a little faster than. we wanted to. The
natural way would be to keep them coming right through the year,
because our customers use them the year through. We would ship
from month to month, and the last shipment of eggs we would make
in 1920 would get here along about February of this year. That is,
we would keep them rolling, so that we would always have eggs
coming for our trade in the States all the time as they used them.
That is the way we would naturally do.

Mr. McLavenuin of Michigan. But it might be that before the
eggs would reach you in the United States, in Boston, a year would
have elapsed after they were purchased by you?

Mr. Kerr. Pretty close to that; and there is another thing that
I would like to state. That is particularly true of the separated
whites and yolks. About 50 per cent of the business of the Keith Co.
is not in the mixed eggs, but in the yolks and whites separated.
We want to get the whites of the eggs at the time they are most firm,
when they will be the best, and that is undoubtedly in April and
May, and in April rather than May. So we would like to freeze as
many of those separated eggs as we can early in the spring, and
thev are bound to lap over no matter when we freeze them, in the
States or anywhere else. You can not get them cleaned up within
the 12 months’ limit.

Mr. McLavenur of Michigan. Do you carry many over from
one year to another?

Mr. Keren. Beyead the 12 months’ limit we do, but not 24 months.
T cdo not think we have ever carried any after 24 months except one
time we got into a scrap with Dr. Wiley: we had some tied up here,
about 10 or 11 years ago, for about 3 years, and we tested them after
we had licked him. We went to the United States Supreme Court
and licked him out. That was on our second grade, and there was no
change in the flavor of those eggs, or in the bacteriological test, or in
tlie chemical analysis, or by the test of the senses by smelling. We
had them tested by the State of Kansas where they were packed.
We had them tested by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
We had them tested by the State of New Jersey, and we had the
records of the tests that were made two years and a half before, when
they were frozen, and there was no change.

Mr. Porrer. How does the price of frozen eggs compare with the
price of shell eggs, taken as a general average ?

Mr. Kerri. In the spring of the year the frozen eges are slightly
higher than the shell eggs, because we have the expense of packing
against them, but ‘then the price does not change throughout the
year, and the rest of the year they are cheaper than the shell egg.
They are cheaper than the shell egg at the present time. At the
present time the frozen egg sells at an average of perhaps equivalent
to 40 cents a dozen; that is, with us.

Mr. Porrer. What are shell eggs worth at the present time /

FROZEN EGGS. 25

Mr. Kerr. Refrigerators are quoted at 61 cents, and then you
have got to candle them. I guess they will be 70 or 75 cents by the
time you get them retailed.

Mr. Porrer. What effect would the exclusion of the Chinese frozen
eggs have upon the market price of the shell eggs to the consumer in
the United States?

Mr. Kerrx. It would bring it up.

Mr. Porrer. Why?

Mr. Kerru. Because the trade that is now supplied partially from
China would have to be supplied altogether from the production of
the States, and in order to supply the frozen eggs you would either
not be able to supply them at all or else you would have to break
not. only the class of eggs that are now broken in this country for
freezing, but you would also have to dip into the straight run of
eggs as they come from the farmers, and even into the refrigerator
firsts, and then I want to say that it would be wholly impossible for
us to turn our business around, on our domestic packing, within
the 12 months’ limit, except by doing this. We should have to in the
12 months store some eggs in the shell, and break them out in the
fall, or else we should have to go out and buy eggs in storage in the
fall and then freeze them. T hey would not be so good, and they would
cost more.

Mr. Porrer. When do you make your contracts with the bakers?

Mr. Kerry. When we are packing. The Keith Co. is much slower
in contracting than most people are, and we string our contracts
out from about the Ist of May, usually, until some time in June, but
we are later than anybody else in contracting.

Mr. Porrer. That contract is for the period of one year?

Mr. Kerrn. Yes. It terminates next spring. But the baker does
not always get them used up.

Mr. Porrer. What effect will this 12 months’ limitation have upon
the shipment of frozen eggs from China, assuming that you fix the
date as the date when the ege is first frozen in your factory at
Shanghai?

Mr. Kerrn. I will tell you what we do. I am going to be candid
with you. We could not do business as we do it now. We could not
freeze our eggs at the time when we ought to freeze them, when they
are the best and the cheapest, but we would freeze some at that time
and then we would freeze some more later, and they would cost
more money and would not be so good; but we should struggle
along and do our best to keep w ithin the 12 months’ limit, and we
would have hard sledding and we would slip up, because the bakers
do not know just how many eggs they are going to use. And, take
note, they are not going to use up what they have bought for this
year for another six months after their contracts expire, most of
them, because the trade has slumped.

Senator Smirx of South Carolina. In case you were not very con-
scientious about giving the exact date when you broke them out and
froze them, would there be any way to detect whether or not they
had been frozen longer than that, w hen they arrived in this country ?

Mr. Kerrn. Not by examining them.

Senator Surru of South Carolina. That is the point I make.

Mr. Kerru. No; not by examining them.

26 FROZEN EGGS.

There is another reason why we can not keep within the 12-months.
limit on our domestic pack. We sold our whites and our yolks
evenly. We sold the whites that were with the yolks that were sepa-
rated, but the trade is using up the yolks first and is not using up
the whites. The white part is selected out, and I think we are not
going to be able to get out the whites that we packed for this year’s
trade much before pretty late in the fall. It is 1921 now and they
were packed in 1920 with the anticipation that the whites would be
gone next spring, and they will not be ‘gone until next fall, and we
could not do anything about it if we gave e them away.

Mr. Porrsr. That is the point I want to bring out. The demand
is limited?

Mr. Kerirn. Yes.

Mr. Porrer. I wish you would explain that to this commitee.

Mr. Kerrn. Just a certain class of trade use these eggs. It is not like
shell eggs. Suppose we have shell eggs in storage “and they are not
going out fast enough. We can put the price down so they will be
more attractive as an article of food, so the housewife will buy them
in the place of meat or fish or something, and they will be eaten up.
But a frozen egg is not a food in itself. It is a manufacturer’s raw
material. It is an ingredient of food, and it has to be used in a fac-
tory. Even if it is used in a hotel, it is used in a commercial w ay,
in the hotel bakery ; but the hotel use is almost negligible

We depend on the bakers almost exclusively “for the use of the

frozen eggs. The baker is finding at the present moment that he

can not sell so many cakes as he did six or eight months ago. Peo-
ple ¢ get out of employment, they get economical, and they “conclude
they. will not eat quite so much cake, and the baker can not get them
to, and there is nobody exce pt the baker to consume the frozen eggs.
Now, when it comes along in the spring of the year, some of our
bakers will have used up ‘their eggs and others will not have used
half of them. Wc have bakers that use our eggs exclusively that can
not use up what they bought from us during 1920 before 1928. Now,
what are they going to do? We sell what they have got left to other
people and keep them going, sell them to ev erybods y that can use
them at all, and get those old eges used up and get everybody on the
new eggs, and we will fix the price so as to make it equitable.

Mr. Porter. Is it possible to hoard these frozen eggs to forestall
the market ?

Mr. Kerrrn. No; we can not forestall the market, because there is
no market except in the contract season. We have the disposition
to sell a lot of eggs that our customers have bought, that they can
not use, in the desire to help them out, and we can not do it.

Mr. Porrer. What percentage of your frozen eggs are sold during
the freezing season, from May to June?

Mr. Kerrn. Practically all within 10 per cent.

Mr. Porrer. And the only other customers you have are those
who have not ordered enough ?

Mr. Kerru. That is it. There is readjustment. A man might
find his trade better than he thought it would be.

Mr. Porter. Outside of that you have no market for frozen eggs?

Mr. Kerrn. That is it. We can not force the market, and if we
gave them away the baker would not use them.

— - ea ee

wa ky eee

FROZEN EGGS. 27

Mr. Porrer. From the business standpoint would there ever be
anything to gain by holding these eggs a year, or an additional year ?
Mr. Kerr, Not’ a thing.

Mr. Porter. What effect would that have on your factory 4

Mr. Kerru. If we held them over we would have to restrict our
pack, according to the quantity we held over. We would pack less
the next year.

Mr. Porrer. What does storage cost you a pound? Assuming
that you held these eggs for a couple of years, what would your
storage be?

Mr. Kerru. I figure that we can hold them for a cent a pound a
month, including insurance and interest. We figure that they cost
us SIX cents a year, if we hold them in storage. w where the insurance
rate is low.

Mr. Porrsr. If you held them for two years you would have a
storage and insurance expense of 12 cents a pound ¢

Mr. Kerrn. Yes.

Mr. Porter. That would hardly pay.

Mr. Kerru. There would be no earthly object in doing it. The
only way you can make any money in that business is to clean it up
every year.

Senator Smirxn, of South Carolina. I should like to ask you if
vou were restricted to the freezing of the domestic product, you
could not sell as cheaply as you do?

Mr. Kerr. No.

Senator Surrn, of South Carolina. The primary purchase is so
much cheaper abroad that it pays you to establish a plant there, to
purchase the eggs and ship them to this country and resell them really
lower than you could purchase the primary stock here and freeze
them ?

Mr. Kerrn. Yes: except that if we do not break out anything ex-
cept the checked eggs, why, we can give a competitive price against
the Chinese; but if we go beyond that, if we try to supply our trade
from the domestic stock, we eet the price up to where it would not
be comfortable.

Mr. Smrru, of South Carolina. So that in China you get prime
stock, if I may use that term, for freezing purposes.

Mr. Kerra.’ Yes. '

Senator Smirn, of South Carolina. In this country you could not
furnish the trade at the price you do and purchase prime stock
here.

Mr. Kerrn. I want to modify that statement a little. Some of
these checked eges, when they are just freshly checked, are just as
good as any to eat. but we can not break out the same kind of eggs
here. We can not break out all of them. We do not intend that
there shall be any difference in quality between our No, 1 grade that
we pack in the States, and our Chinese grade. We intend to main-
tain the two, so that neither we nor anybody else will know any
difference, and by doing that we make a second grade in the States,
and we do not make any second grade in China.

Senator Surru, of South Carolina. That was not what I was at-
tempting to get at. The point I was attempting to get at was that in
China you have the pick of the eggs.

Mr. Kerrn. Yes.

2s FROZEN EGGS.

Senator Smrru, of South Carolina. You do not take the cracked
eges—those that will not stand shipment /

Mr. Kerr. No.

Senator Sara of South Carolina. You take the prime eggs?

Mr. Kerrn. That is it.

Senator Smrre of South Carolina. And in this country the prime
eges that will do for shipment, that you want for table use, would
come at a price that would make it impossible for you to freeze them
and put them on the market for anything like the price you do now.

Mr. Kurrn. That is it. More than that, prime eggs in the United
States mean those ef standard size, with ‘a clean shell and all that
sort of thing.

Mr. Haveen. I understood the previous witness to say that the
Chinese egg was superior to ours. I understand you to say there is
no difference.

Mr. Kerrn. That is a matter of personal judgment. I have been
ther e, and I was there during our heavy packing season from March
until July, and I did not make ¢ any distinction of that kind. I did
make the distinction that the Senator just asked me, but I did not

make the other distinction. We get just as fresh egos here in the
States as we can in China.

Mr. Havenn. What did you say the first cost was in China?

Mr. Keirun. We figure by the pound in our business. The pound
is our unit of raw material that is broken out from the shell, and
the cost per pound has varied in our experience of five years all the
way ern about 6 cents a pound at the low point to about 25 cents a
pound at the high point. The average during the year 1920 was be-
tween 17 and 18 cents; that is, duri ng our last. packing season.

Mr. Havern. What is the tariff on eggs now?

Mr. Kerrn. It varies. On the separated whites it is a cent a
pound. On the mixed eggs; that is, the whole of the egg mixed to-
gether into a batter, it is 2 cents a pound, including the weight of
the interior container, making perhaps 2! cents a pound. On the
yolk it is 10 per cent ad valorem on Shanghai value, which works out
this year higher than it has some other years. This year it works
out around 24 cents a pound on the yolks. Some years it has been
cheaper than on the mixed eggs. The tariff is wholly inconsistent.
I will not take the time of the committee, but I have my opinion
about it.

Mr. Haucen. Is that price in gold or silver?

* Mr. Kerrn. In gold.

Senator Suira of South Carolina. Just one thing. Several ques-
tions have been asked here about the quality of the Chinese egg as
compared with the American ege. So far as the taste is concerned,
for the purpose for which you use the broken egg that goes into the
manufacturing process, it would not make any difference at all would
it, as to the flavor, if the constituent elements of the egg were the
same, there might be a difference without their being any real appre-
ciable aiierence in chemical analysis.

Mr. Kirn. That might be; but just the same the taste of your

cake, | fdiinkc ‘depends upon the taste of the things you put into your
a and if you put mean-tasting stuff into your cake I don’t be-
lieve the cake would taste just right.

Senator Surrx of South Carolina. The point I was getting at was

that there might be some shght difference in the flavor, but it would

C

FROZEN EGGS. ys

have nothing to do with the value of your eggs for the purpose for
which you use them, even if there was a difference in the flavor.

Mr. Kerrn. I do not know whether I have met your question,
but as I conceive it, I believe that the taste of the eggs enters into
the taste of the cake, so that if the ege tastes good it ‘helps the cake
to taste good, because there are quite a lot of eggs in the cake.

Senator Smrri of South Carolina. And your experience in China
was that they tasted as good as they do here?

My. Kerrn. Just as good.

Senator Sarru of South Cerolina. That they taste just the same?

Mr. Kerriz. Just as good. I ate them just as freely and liked them
just as well.

STATEMENT OF MR. GEORGE S. WARD, PRESIDENT, WARD BAK-
ING CO., NEW YORK CITY.

Mr. Warp. Mr. Chairman, I am president of the Ward Baking
Co., of New “York City. I am also here as chairman of the trade
relations committee of the American Association of the Baking
Industry and represent the Retail Bakers’ Association of America,
composed of about 28,000 bakers of this country, all told, who are
keenly interested in this question of frozen eggs.

The bakers of the country have been educated up to the use of
frozen eges, and they look with a great deal of concern upon what
looks to them as a danger, if they are driven to use shell eggs instead
of frozen eggs.

There are many advantages in using frozen eges as against shell
eggs. First is the question of economy. If we are deprived of the
use of frozen eggs, it means that we must go into the market and buy
shell eggs and hid against the household. for eggs, which would
advance the price of eggs to the baker very materially. A cent a
pound would mean a cent a dozen, and that would have to be carried
through into the manufactured product, a cake which is sold through-
out the country, and passed over to the consumer, increasing the
cost of the cake to the consumer. We can avoid that if we can keep
vn using frozen eggs.

The other main point is that in the cracking of shell eggs in the
bakery, it is a very dangerous piece of work. For illustration. if we
should crack a musty egg in this room, we could not crack another
ege for quite a long time without suspecting that it also was musty:
and one musty egg cracked in a bake shop. in the day’s work puts
under suspicion every piece of goods made in that bakery that day,
and will spoil as many other eoods and as much other good material
as you may ha ippen to have in that particular batch which the musty
ego will creep into. That egg will look good, and it is very hard
to detect.

So I have come here not only in the interest of our own company,
who are large users of frozen eggs, using this year somewhere be-
tween 8,000 000 and 10,000,000 pounds—! ),000,000 pounds of eggs as
a matter of fact.

We ask that we be given one of two remedies: Either that the
frozen-egg matter be stric ken from this bill or that the time be lim-
ited to correspond to the recommendation of the Department of
Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry, permitting eggs to be used for the

full period of 24 months.

30 FROZEN EGGS.

Mr. Porrer. To what extent would it increase the price of eggs
to the household in case the bakers had to go into the shell egg
market ?

Mr. Warp. At the present time the difference would be between
30 and 35 cents a pound for frozen eggs, as against 67 cents a pound
for shell eggs. If we were not permitted at “this moment to manu-
facture our goods from frozen eggs and had to go into the market
and buy shell eges and pay 67 cents for what we are now paying
35 cents for, it would make that much difference in the price of our
goods; and that would be for a short period of time only, because,
by going into the market, we would decrease the supply of shell
egos for. general use.

Mr. Porrer. Is there any advantage in the use of frozen eggs?

Mr. Warp. They are more uniform and safer to use

Mr. Porrer. Assuming that you had to go into the market in the
winter when shell eggs were quite scarce, what effect would it have
on the egg market?

Mr. Warp. If the bakers went into the market in the wintertime,
when shell eggs were scarce, it would advance the cost of living very
considerably. .

Mr. Porrer. What percentage of the eggs would they use ?

Mr. Warp. I could not tell that. We would have to decide on
that after we got the eggs into the bakery, and find out what of them
were fit to use.

Mr. Porrer. How long have you been using frozen eggs in your
business ?

Mr. Warp. I should think about 12 or 15 years past.

Mr. Porrrer. How many factories have you?

Mr. Warp. Sixteen.

Mr. Porter. Located in various cities of the United States?

Mr. Warp. Yes; Boston and New York and all the main cities
as far west as Chicxgo

Senator Smirx of South Carolina. When frozen eggs have come
into your factory in the cans, in the course of using them have you
ever found any unfit for use?

Mr. Warp. No; I may say that on the whole the frozen egg is one
of the most satisfactory things that comes into the bakery for use.

Senator Surru of South Carolina. You never have found anv unfit
for use?

Mr. Warp. When they are cracked out of the shell they are frozen
solid and kept in that shape, and when they come into our bakery
they are still in a hard, frozen state, just like a solid piece of ice, and
we take those cans out of the cold-storage house, where they are kept
in very low temperatures, kept frozen, and put them into reducing
rooms in our bakery, where the egg is reduced down to the natural
consistency of the natural egg.

Senator Surrx of South Carolina. What is your Side in the
use of them?

Mr. Warp. The frozen egg is a very satisfactory produc: to use
in the bakery. It is sweet, clean, wholesome in every respect, and
far safer to use than shell eggs for the bakeshop. These eggs are
used far and wide throughout the whole baking industry, through-
out the whole country, in all sections of the country.

FROZEN EGGS. Sali

Mr. Havcen. I believe you said you had three suggestions to
offer.

Mr. Warp. Two; that is, either that the frozen eggs be taken out
of the bill, or that we be given the benefit of the full time of 24
months, as indorsed by our Agricultural Department. If there is
any danger at all in the egg being unwholesome, we want to limit it
right on that, as bakers. We are interested in having perfect eggs,
from the baker's s standpoint, from a little different angle that per-
haps the country baker it.

Mr. Porrer. What would be the effect on your business if you
got hold of bad eggs?

Mr. Warp. It would be disastrous. If we got hold of bad eggs,
it would mean a bad product. They say the proof of the pudding is
in the eating. The people eat our goods, and if the goods are not
right they will not eat them.

‘Mr. Porrer. So it is a matter of vital importance to have good

Mr. Warp. Absolutely. It is the life of our business.

Mr. McLaueuuin of Michigan. Do you mean that an egg with any
taint whatever is noticeable in the product?

Mr. Warp. A musty egg; yes. A musty egg will spoil the whole
batch. It will spoil 100 or 200 eggs in the batch, and spoil your
butter and sugar and flour and everything else in the mixture. You
spoil the entire batch of cake if you use a “musty egg.

Mr. McLaucurin of Michigan. Would it not ‘have to be pretty
advanced in order to do that?

Mr. Warp. No: a musty egg is quite different from a rotten or
otherwise bad egg. A musty egg will come out of a bad nest. That
makes the. bad, ‘musty egg, as Ji ‘understand it.

Mr. McLaventrn of Michigan. An egg may be musty and still
not rotten ?

Mr. Warp. An. egg may be musty and yet be perfectly clear and
good looking.

Mr. McLaveutin of Michigan. And not show anything wrong in
the candling?—

Mr. Warp. No; not at all. You might have two eggs in your
hand and not know which one of them was musty.

Mr. McLavenun of Michigan. Or anything in the chemical
analysis?

Mr. Warp. I never heard of any chemical analysis that would
reach a musty egg. There is no way of discovering it except by
opening it, and w when it is once opened in a room it puts every egg
im sight under suspicion, and it is really a dangerous thing per se,
while in the cracking process, in the cracking of the egg before it is
frozen, if they find” a musty egg they sterilize everything by live
steam, ‘which kills that danger.

Mr. McLauGcHuin of Michigan. Then an egg that is comparatively
new and fresh may be musty ¢

Mr. Warp. Yes.

Mr. McLaueuuin of Michigan. Then some of these eggs that the
gentleman spoke of in China, coming directly from the places where
they were laid, may be musty /

Mr. Warp. Yes; they may be musty.

Mr. McLavcuuin of Michigan. Do you think the process of break-

ing two eggs into a cup would disclose the fact that they are musty?

hn!

32 FROZEN BGGS.

Mr. Warp. Yes; those cups are all metal cups.

Mr. McLaventr of Michigan. And then that musty egg being
broken there, do you say that “thie odor would be diffused, s so that it
would be aug to detect the egg?

Mr. Warp. You would have ‘to sterilize everything that had been
used in hithalihe the eggs, and ventilate the room, and get that odor
away.

Mr. McLaventin of Michigan. It has been said that if a musty
egg were broken in this room many might be broken after that and
we would not be able to distinguish whether or not they were musty.

Mr. Warp. That is true.

Mr. McLavucuuin of Michigan. Do you think the process they go
through in breaking those eggs in C hina would detect that?

Mr. Warp. Whether it is in China or in the United States, it is
the same.

Mr. McLavuenutn of Michigan. And then 1f they come across
musty, what then?

Mr. Warp. No; they sterilize their tools.

Mr. McLacenunrn of Michigan. But the odor is in the room.

Mr. Warp. They have got to ventilate that out.

Mr. McLavGHutin of Michigan. Do they do that?

Mr. Warp. I should imagine they would, because it would be dan-
gerous to proceed withont ‘it.

Mr. McLaveuutn of Michigan. Have you been in China?

Mr. Warp. Never.

Mr. McLavcuurn of Michigan. Am I right in saying that Chinese
eggs have a bad reputation? :

Mr. Warp. I think back in the minds of most men, when they
refer to fancy eggs, Chinese eggs that are certified 40 years old and
upward, there is a kind of nastiness about that in the mind of the
average American. In the case we are talking about here you do
not have that at all. IT remember having a very interesting experi-
ence in 1912. I went down through South America and passed
through the Straits of Magellan and went on board a ship bound
for New York with a cargo ‘of eggs. By the time we got down there
the eggs for our table were pretty bad. We got toa ‘little southern
town down there in the Straits of Magellan, and I happened to see
a sion, “ Fresh-laid eggs.” I went in ‘and bought some, and found
the eggs were fresh and good, and I made the discovery that a fresh-
laid hen’s egg was pretty much the same, whether down in the
Straits of Magellan or up in New York City.

Mr. Porter. I think the stories we have heard about Chinese eggs
arise from the fact that in China an ancient egg is considered quite
a delicacy amene the Chinese people.

Mr. Warp. Yes; and I think that is what has hurt the idea of im-
porting eggs ty ae China.

Mr. Porrer. They are kept there 10, 20, 30, or 40 years.

Mr. Warp. Yes; but we have no such eggs in mind when we are
talking about eges in the baking industry.

Mr. Porrer. | have eaten some that’ were guaranteed to be 50
years old, and I found them quite tasteless.

Senator Smiru of South Carolina. Had they been frozen?

Mr. Porter. No.

Senator Gronna. With reference to that, let me give you my
experience with eggs. I took a dozen eggs five years ago and placed

FROZEN EGGS. 33

them in a certain dry place, and nailed up the boards, so that no one
could get to them or disturb them. This fall I took those boards
down and there was not a thing left of those eggs except the shells,
and the linings inside of the shell. They had. just walked away.
That is one test. You can not keep an egg for five years. It will
just walk away from you.

Mr. Porter. I think the Chinese put some preparation on the out-
side of the egg.

Senator Gronna. You can not keep an egg without preparation
for probably more than three years. [am just a farmer, and not a
scientist, but I have made the test.

Mr. Kerrn. May I answer that question /

Senator Gronna. Yes; we would be very glad to have you tell us

something about that.

Mr. Kerru. The Chinese coat those eges with salt and ashes, and
one thing and another, so that they are pretty nearly double ihe

natural size. They keep them in that way for years and years.

Mr. Haven. They are hermetically sealed ?

Mr. Keiru. Yes.

STATEMENT OF DR. I. C. FRANKLIN, SPECIALIST ON STORAGE,
BUREAU OF MARKETS, AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT.

Mr. Porrer. Dr. Franklin, please state your official position.

Dr. Franxuin. I am specialist on storage in the Bureau of
Markets, United States Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Porrrer. How long have you held that position ?

Dr? Franxur. About four years.

Mr. Porrrr. You have heard the testimony here this evening.
Can you throw any additional hght upon this matter?

Dr. Franxiin. I might speak of the volume of the business.

Mr. Porrrr. Yes; we would like to have that.

Dr. Franxurn. And with reference to that, I have made some
charts showing the cold-storage stocks. On this chart the vertical
lines divide the years. You will see marked at the bottom 1917,
1918, 1919, and 1920.

The horizontal lines segregate the sections into millions of pounds,
starting at zero, 5,000,000, 10,000,000, 15,000,000, and 20,000,000.

Our first record of stocks was taken January 1, 1917, as noted
on the chart.

Taking the chart in general you will see an average upw ard trend
of the amounts. The Tast point on the chart under the year 1920
is for December 1 of that year and shows the maximum of stocks
on hand at that time of 29,824,000 pounds.

Senator Gronna. That is more frozen eggs than we have had
any one time in the years 1917, 1918, or 1919.

Dr. Franxuin. Yes.

Mr. Porrer. Now as to the wholesomeness of the eggs?

Dr. Frankxuin. Before we come to that I have another chart which
shows the volume of imports of frozen and dried eggs.

This chart shows, by years, 1917, 1918, 1919, and 19: 20, divided by
the vertical lines, and the horizontal lines starting with zero and

aaking upward, 5,000,000 and 10,000,000.

30188—21——3

34 FROZEN EGGS.

In looking at this chart please disregard the solid lines as drawn
in there and take into consideration only the broken line, which is the
line of imports by months during those years.

In an examination of that please note that in 1917 the average of
imports moves along rather on a level, declining somewhat in 1918 to
September 1, when it drops to zero, and September, October, Novem-
ber, and December continues at zero, and on January ile 1919, in-
creases again. There was some difficulty in shipping that occasioned
that drop to zero, so that those who were packing found it impossible
to import into this country.

Now, going on over into 1919, we find a rather even trend until
along in “the fall, where you will find a mountain peak, and that is
occasioned by one cargo coming in amounting to 8,835,000, pounds.

Again, in October this year, about 10,000, 000 pounds i In one cargo.

Now, going back to that cold-storage stock report, you will see the
reflex of those heavy imports in this jump here and in this jump here.

Mr. Porter. Before you leave that subject, the slump in the market
has resulted in the overstocking of the dealers in frozen eggs, just
like in every other business, has. it not?

Dr. Franx«iin. I think that is true, but I want to go further on
before I take that up.

For the year 1916 the imports of frozen eggs totaled 8,126,583
pounds.

For 1917 the total was 12,085,094 pounds.

For 1918 it was 4,191,791 pounds.

In 1919 it was 14,415,805 pounds.

In 1920 this last year up to December 1—this is a conservative
figure which is under the mark; I do not know just what thé mark
is—approximately 27,088,279 pounds.

Those imports bear out this upward trend of cold-storage stocks.

Mr. Haucen. Ax increase of about 100 per cent last year?

Dr. Franxurn. It increased almost that.

Now, about three months ago I tried to secure figures as to the
domestic production of frozen eggs, and I had reports sent in from
the some fifty concerns who are in the business in this country.

The amount that was broken out in 1919 of the domestic pack was
approximately 15,000,000 pounds.

In 1920, up until December 1 , it was about 16,000,000 pounds.

T want to show you the pr ocesses I went thr ough to secure the con-
sumption. I will give you the formula.

I took the stock at the beginning of the year. To that I added the
imports and the domestic “production and subtracted the stock on
hand at the end of the year—the first of the next year. Now, that
should give us with relative accuracy the consumption in the country,
barring one figuré, and that is the export. But fortunately in this
case the export does not run over 100,000 pounds, so that it is neg-
ligible.

“Senator Sarr of South Carolina. Is that true of a period of
years?

Dr. Franxuin. Yes, it is; so that that figure is practically negligi-
ble.

So that taking that as a basis, and the 15,000,000 domestic produc-
tion for 1919, the domestic consumption is approximately 19,500,000
pounds, but 1 in 1920 the domestic consumption was 32,000,000 pounds.

FROZEN. EGGS. 35

Now going back to 1917

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. One minute. You say in 1919
the domestic consumption was 15,000,000 pounds?

Dr. Franxury. The production.

Mr. Haucen. Of frozen eggs?

Dr. Franxury. Yes; but the consumption in 1919 was 19,500,000
pounds of frozen eggs.

Senator Smirxa of South Carolina. And in 1920 how much?

Dr. Franxury. Thirty-two million pounds.

Mr. Havucen. We imported 28,000,000.

Dr. Franxurn. We imported 27,000,000 pounds.

Senator Gronna, And we froze 16,000,000 pounds in this country,
which would be a stock of about 45,000,000 pounds. Is that correct ?

Dr. Franxurn. Yes. The stock was 29,000,000 on December 1.
We had a stock of frozen eggs on December 1 of 29,824,000 pounds
or about 30,824,000 pounds.

The interesting feature that might be brought out there is that
the stock on Dec ember 1 represents practically ¢ a year’s supply: that
is on the basis of the consumption of 32,000,000 pounds for 1920,
which may not be maintained.

Senator Surry of South Car olina. You have on hand now, begin-
ning with the calendar year, a year’s supply on hand.

Dr. Franknn. Yes: ‘about 30,000,000 pounds, with a consumption
in 1920 of 32,000,000 pounds.

Mr. Porrer. You do not expect the consumption in 1921 to be
nearly so great as in 1920, do you?

Dr. Franxirn. I am not a prophet.

Mr. Porrrr. As a matter of fact frozen eggs are used in articles
of food that are more or less luxuries, cakes and ice cream, etc. ?
During 1920 people had lots of money and ate lots of cakes and lots
of ice cream, and the industrial situation in Pittsburg indicates that
they are not going to eat very much cake in the coming year.

Dr. FRANKLIN. Of course you have a right to your opinion, and
your opinion might be justified by the argument you present now,
but I would not form a judgment on a matter of that kind at all. I
deal with facts rather than opinions.

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. The point you are making is
that we are beginning the consumption year with an amount in stor-
age almost equal to the previous year’s consumption, and that if this
bill is unchanged and the volume of i importation and domestic pro-
duction of these frozen egos continues in anything like that volume
during this year, somebody will have a surplus on the market, and
will have to ‘dump some. That is the point you are getting at, is it
not ?

Dr. Franxirn- I am just stating the facts, Senator, leaving the
matter entirely to your own conclusions. I think that is probably
the better plan.

Mr. Haucen v. We have on hand an amount of stock equal to the
last year’s consumption ?

Dr. Franxurn. Practically so, and very much greater than was
the consumption in 1919. The consumption in 1919 was only 19,500,-
000 pounds.

Seaator Gronna. Do you care to make any comment as to how
much time should be given to these people?

36 FROZEN EGGS.

Dr. Franxuiy. I do not think I would at this time.

Senator Gronna. If I may be partoned for saying it, this bill has
for its primary object two things in view. That is my understand-
ing of it. We want to prevent hoar ding of the necessary food articles.
That is the first object. Secondly, we want to preserve the health
of the people. Of course, both those objects are important.

Now, I have given this bill some thought, and it was my impres-
sion that if we had the right to legislate on ‘this question and to say
that food shall not be kept beyond a certain period of time, that
necessarily will force that article of food onto the market and give
the people a chance to buy it. It will prevent hoarding. Now, as to
the question of whether the food is wholesome after being kept be-
yond a certain period, of course, that is a question for scientists to
discuss.

Mr. Porrer. Ought we not to draw this distinction in regard to
frozen eges? Assume that there is a surplus of shell eggs. The price
is reduced, and there is always a market. But there is only one
market for frozen eggs, and that is largely made up of the bakeries,
and the bakeries can only use a certain number of pounds of eggs a
year, and you could not give them away beyond that. It is just like
any other article that goes into the cake, or whatever they are manu-
facturing. There is quite a difference between an article of this
kind and an ordinary article of consumption.

Senator Gronna. That. is true.

Mr. Porrer. The market never increases by reason of the lowering
of the price.

Senator Gronna. That is true, but if we permit these people to
have a lot of frozen eggs, we take off the market a lot of eges which
might be consumed in the shell and in that way enhance the price.

Mr. Porrer. There would be nothing to be gained by doing that,
because the eggs in the shell sell at a very much higher price than
the frozen eggs.

Senator Gronna. Supposing we have 100,000,000 dozen eggs and
we allow. these gentlemen who are in this business to take 25 000,000
dozen eggs and freeze them. Now, that takes 25,000,000 dozen off the
market. There w:ll be about 75,000,000 dozen left. Of course, that
will affect the price.

Mr. Porter. Affect the price of the shell eggs?

Senator Gronna. Yes.

Mr. Porrer. But that is no advantage to them. They are selling
the frozen eggs.

Senator Gronna. But if by legislation we say that the frozen eggs
shall be kept only one year, there will not be as lar gea supply. of
frozen eggs as if we say, “ You can keep them as long as you want to,
or you can keep them two years.”

Mr. Porrrr. The testimony here seems to indivate that if the limit
is fixed at one year the foreigners will not be able to come into the
market, and that would necessitate the packing of domestic eggs,
and freezing them, and that would have the very effect that you in-
dicate. Pardon me for interrupting you, Dr. Franklin.

Dr. Franxurn. I do not know that I have anything further to say
about these stocks. It is evident that you have stocks on hand now
that, without breaking any eggs at all, will last until the fall of next
year.

FROZEN EGGS. oe

It is only fair to say that this is a commodity that only moves
into very restricted channels.

Mr. Haveen. If you limit to 12 months, that will simply shut out
every egg from China.

Dr. Franxun. I would not say so.

Mr. Haveen. Practically so, because we have a supply, and it
would have to be kept over.

Dr. Franxiry. No. But we have not a domestic supply that
would be sufficient for our needs, I think, in that class of eggs. I
will call attention to one very pertinent fact in connection with that.
Of the eggs that are coming to market, 30 dozen to the case, on an
average 185 egos in each case are checked, cracked, or leakers. Tha
1s practically : a dozen and a half eggs to the 30- dozen case.

Mr. Haveen. Five per cent.

Dr. Franxury. And furthermore you have in addition to that a
certain amount of dirty eggs. Now, that is the breaking stock that
we have, and was the basis for the beginning of this business. Now,
we have not a sufficient quantity of that class of stock to take care
of our growing consumption of frozen eggs. That is evidenced by
the condition here, and is evidenced by the amount of domestic pro-
duction and domestic consumption, one compared against the other;
so that for that cheaper commodity it does seem necessary to im-
port, to bring in stock from outside the United States which does
not affect in a direct way our market on our shell eggs ordinarily.

Senator Gronna. As I understand this chart, Dr. Franklin, the
people engaged in this business freeze about 15,000,000 or 16,000,000
pounds here in this country.

Dr. Franxuin. Yes.

Senator Gronna. And we consume on an average probably some
30,000,000 pounds. I am leaving out the supply on hand just now.

Dr. Franxurn. That was the approximate consumption for 1920,

Senator Gronna. But that would leave on an average about half,
or about the same percentage of importation that we freeze in this
country.

Dr. Franxuin. That is if the consumption remains at that high
point. That, of course, is problematical.

Mr. Haveen. Have you the figures of production ?

Dr. Franxury. Of shell eggs?

-Mr. Havucen. Altogether.

Dr. Frannurn. No; I have not. I think that is estimated to be
about 25,000,000.000 dozen.

Mr. Havcen. About 100,000,000 cases, is it not ?

Dr. Franxurn. That figure is beyond me. I do not know.

Senator Smiru of South Carolina. Doctor, aside from any ques-
tion of hoarding or any question of supply, what would you say
when eggs are frozen fresh in good condition is the length of time
that they can be kept in that condition and still be entirely whole-
some and useful for food ?

Dr. Franxurn. The department has gone on record on that in two
separate instances, that they are good and wholesome up to two years.
Beyond that the department has not made any statement on the

matter. That is 24 months.

Senator Smrru of South Carolina. You do not know of any inves-
tigation they have mace as to the condition after two years?

38 FROZEN EGGS.

Dr. Franxurn. No; I do not believe that they have ever made any
investigation on any period beyond that time. In fact, the evidence
would seem to show that at the end of two years there is beginning
to be a perceptible breaking down, due to the albumen changing to a

vatery substance. The point you made a while ago, Congressman
McLaughlin, that there was a change going on, is very evident in
all the investigations that have been made, that the change starts
at the time that the egg is laid and it continues, but when the egg is
placed in cold storage that change is retarded. The bacterial change
is retarded.

Senator Surru of South Carolina. When the imported eggs arrive
here the test is made. Then that stock is placed in cold storage. Are
there any subsequent tests made in the places where the eggs are
kept, so as to detect whether or not any have been carried beyond
the two-year period 4

Dr. Franxuin. No; there would not be any occasion for it except
under the State law. where there is a Hmitation under the State law.
It would not be necessary by the Federal Government, except that
they would be examined from time to time to see that they were
wholesome, under the food and drugs act.

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. The point I was getting at was
that I was not clear as to whether after you made the initial inspec-
tion on arrival and they went into cold storage in places owned by
these gentlemen who are going to use them or sell them, there was
any subsequent test made as to their age and wholesomeness.

Dr. Franxuin. That work is entirely carried on under the juris-
diction of the Bureau of Chemistry, and I am quite certain effi-
ciently so.

Senator Smiru of South Carolina. Let me ask one question so as
to get this clear in my mind, because it is important to me. These
egos are put in storage. They are inspected on arrival and put in
storage and they are sold from time to time. They are not all sold
as soon as they come in. They are not shipped out. They are kept
there and disposed of as the market absorbs them. Now, do you
inspect them on sale ?

Dr. Franxurn. No; we do not inspect them at all, but the inspee-
tors of the Bureau of Chemistry, under the food and drugs act, and
the State inspectors do inspect them, but the Bureau of Markets
does not. .

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. On sale?

Dr. Franxurn. No; they inspect the warehouses from time to time.

Senator Smirx of South Carolina. At stated periods?

Dr. Franxiin. No; not at any stated periods at all. It is a hit-
and-miss proposition. It is not safe to go at stated periods.

Senator Smirn of South Carolina. The point I am making is, do
they inspect sufficiently frequently to see that there is no stock car-
ried beyond the period of wholesomeness ?

Dr. Franxurn. Yes; I would say that that is true.

Senator Gronna. Where they have a State law?

Dr. Franxuin. Where they have a State law.

Senator Gronna. Providing for cold storage?

Dr. Franxurn. Yes; where the State law provides for that sort of
thing. Not only that, but in States also where the Federal Govern-
ment can come in under the food and drugs act, and that means any
stock maving in commerce, of course.

FROZEN EGGS. 39

Mr. McLaveuiin of Michigan. There is a business of freezing
eggs in this country, the home production, and that breaking and
freezing is confined largely to eggs that have suffered some little
damage.

Dr. Franxuin. Physical damage, largely.

Mr. McLaveuiun of Michigan. Eggs that have deteriorated a
little, in appearance, and so on, with some measure of deterioration
in the eggs that are broken and frozen in this country. But that
business, ] understand, is not done by any gentleman who has testi-
fied to-night.

Dr. Franxiin. -Oh, yes; that business is carried on by some of the
gentlemen who have testified to-night. They break checked and
cracked eggs in this country.

Mr. McLavennin of Michigan. I thought they used only per-
fect eggs.

Dr. Franxurn. Oh, no; the breaking stock in this country, as Mr.
Keith testified, is that class of stock.

Senator Smiru of South Carolina. Doctor, you have no Federal
law pertaining to the age of this stock?

Dr. Franxurn. No, sir.

Senator Suiru of South Carolina. Are there any State laws that
pertain to that?

Dr. Franxury. Oh, yes. There are several State laws. There is a
record of them in the hearings of the House committee.

Senator Smits of South Carolina. This was to unify and make
uniform the laws in all the States in reference to the age of the cold-
storage unit, whatever it might be.

Dr. Franxuin. Just so. And in that connection, aside from the
point under discussion, I would like to call your attention to a letter
received from the officers who are administering the New York State
law within the last month, who are contemplating changing their
law, and say that they do not want to change their law until the
Federal law is enacted, so that they can build their law to conform
to it and supplement it.

Senator Suirn of South Carolina. Do you know in what respect
they desire to change that law ?

Dr. Franxury. No; I can not say that definitely, because they do
not say definitely in what respect. But in the present law which
they have, which was enacted within thel ast year, they followed the
pending bill in two separate sections, quoted almost verbatim from
the pending bill, but they changed it in some other form, and they
are having some administrative troubles. They have not confessed
just what those are. ! ;

Senator Smrru of South Carolina. You do not know whether it
was to lengthen the time or to shorten it ?

Dr. Franxuin. I do not think the question of limit was in the
matter at all. Their limit is placed at 12 months, as per the pend-
ing bill. Vig, pile

Mr. McLauenutn of Michigan. What, in your opinion, is the best
manner of describing the kind of product to be included within the
law. to make it inclusive or exclusive, in these State laws that you
have examined ?

Dr. Franxury. It is my notion that the States that have s¥
specifically the items of foodstuffs which are controlled un
law have had less administrative difficulties than those that h

40) FROZEN EGGS.

at the definition in a rather indirect approach. Does that answer
your question ?

Mr. McLaueutrn of Michigan. Yes.

Senator Suiru of South Carolina. As I understood your question ,
do you mean to name those that are excluded or those that are in:
cluded? Which one of the two is the better ?

Mr. McLaucuuin of Michigan. Dr. Franklin says he thinks the law
works best which is inclusive, which names those that are included.

Dr. Franxuin. That is one of the difficulties, as I understood.
which has arisen in the New York law. They have made an indirect
approach to their division or distinction of articles of food, and by
so doing did not exclude some of the things they wanted to, and now
they are forced to require marking on cereals, breakfast foods, and
a variety of things of that sort in cold storage which, of course, are
not contemplated in any law of that kind, but it causes them difficulty
and is rather embarrassing to administrative officers.

Mr. McLaventrn of Michigan. I am very much pleased to hear
these gentlemen testify as to the care they take in exeluding every-
thing that can possibly do any harm, every egg that is defective or
tainted in any way to any degree whatever. In your experience
do you find that that practice is followed as closely by all those who
break and freeze egos as has been described here to-night?

Dr. Franxirn. Your question is quite far-reaching “when you say
“all.” TI am inclined to believe that if you had the reports of the
New York State commissioner of markets, just recently issued, he
would show you several prosecutions within the last year under
phases of that sort.

Mr. McLaueuurn of Michigan. Prosecutions for what?

Dr. Franxuin. Prosecutions for the placing of deteriorated eggs
in the frozen product. However, I want to carry that further and

say that the houses that I have been in and have examined, which

many of them are houses representing the larger amount of produe-
tion, are houses that are very careful in how they proceed in their
breaking processes, and it is true that in these houses they have
trained ‘their help so that they are exceedingly expert in detecting
egos that are not perfectly fresh, and their processes are very like
those described here by the gentlemen who have testified to-night.
They have sterlizing devices, and I have seen them used. They
have ventilation devices for ventilating the room, and in many cases
the rooms in which the breaking process takes place are refrigerated,
and the air is clarified and kept pure and under the most wholesome
condition. That is a development that has grown within the last
seven or eight years, due to the enforcement of ‘the food and drugs act
and the inspection of those buildings by the members of the corps in
the Department of Agriculture who have those things in hand.

Mr. Porrer. I have nothing further.

Senator Gronna. Are there any questions you wish to ask?

Senator Smrru of South Carolina. No.

Senator Gronna. We are very much obliged to you.

Mr. Porrer. That is all we have to present. We appreciate the

‘indness of the conferees in hearing us at this late hour.

Senator Gronna. Then we will adjourn.
thiWhereupon, at 10.35 o’clock p. m., the joint committee adjourned
mentet at the call of the chairman.)

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