Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-12-10
BEWARE OF The
RATTL|NC Eco
INSPECTOR MIKE e. FLYNN TELLS
HOW TO KEEP OFF THE
ANCIENT HEN FRUIT.
VISITS DAVENPORT
In Interview States How to Dlscrinn.
mate Between Packed and Fresh
Laid Product-A Sim
pie Test.

IF it rattles 1T is not a fresh egg, y
said M. e. Flynn, pure food inspector
for the state, in speaking of the cru
SADIE that he has been waging in Dav-
export during the past week for the
pure food department. The Davenport
Times tells of Inspector Flynn's visit
in Davenport and gives the following
interview with the man who is look
ing out for eggs over age:
cit Is a very simple test, but an eff
fective one to eliminate a large por-
ton of the packed eggs from the
category of the. freshly laid. Hold the
egg UP near your ear and shake it. II
1t rattles 1t is not fresh egg.
Understand, don't say it is a bad
egg. Packed or storage eggs are not
necessarily had eggs. But a house
wife should not be called on to pay
fresh egg prices for this quality OF
goods. Fresh eggs are full There is
no air space and no chance for them
to rattle. But after while they be-
gin to evaporate and in four or five
months about one.sfxth or one-fffth OF
the filling is gone. Therefore the
buyer does not receive his full value
for what he buys, and the egg is not
fresh and cannot be S Id for such, and
prosecutions will follow wherever we
find that this is being done.
1t can readily be seen that large
community may be swindled out OF
thousands of dollars on eggs in a
short time. If the dealer can label
his eggs fresh he can add from seven
to ten cents dozen to the price OF
them. And the public pays the bill
"It Is no excuse in a court of law
that the retailer purchased the eggs
as the fresh article. He is supposed
to exercise proper care TO ascertain
that he is buying fresh eggs and so
protect the consumer. Nor is the
commission man excusable because ne
buys the eggs from country shippers
as fresh. He has means of knowing
fresh eggs from the storage and
packed variety.
Packed eggs do not all come from
the big storage plans in Chicago.
They often come from the farmers
cellar or the store room Of country
commission men. During the late
spring and early summer when the
price of eggs is lower there is ten
dency among the country folks to
keep their eggs packed away in the
cellar until winter when the price
scars, then bring them into the mar
ket and demand fresh egg prices for
them. And the consumer pays the
price. This method of packing eggs
is not so good as that employed by
the big commission houses which keep
them in an even temperature in their
big storehouses.
"'But the eggs come from the coun-
try and the supposition naturally is
that they are fresh
"Mr. Flynn spent some time last
week watching at the Bell-Jones COM
pany plant. He was observing ship
ments brought in from the commission
men in the country towns throughout
the state. In several cases it was
found that eggs shipped in marked as
fresh contained many old eggs. ne
will follow up these shipments to their
source and start prosecutions against
the men who shipped them and try in
this way to reach the men at the
initial end of the deal as we'll as the
grocer and wholesale commission men
But few of these eggs are shipped
out of the state to New York or the
other big eastern cities, as the com.
mission men know enough not to take
any chances with the government in.
spectors, who are watching closely for
these western shipments"