Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-06-29
Cold STORAGE Eoo,.
From the Journal of the American n

From the Journal of the American Medi-
cal Association.
Inc d development of cold
storage methods has in several ways
added to the perplexities of health ad-
m~inistration. On the n side are the
OBVIOUS advantages. economic and 9TH
er, OF carrying over valuable but per-
foods from a time when they
are not needed to a time Of relative
scarcity. On the other hand are the
we'll known abuses of '%cornerinK."
which raises the price, both in time Of
abundance and the time of scarcity.
ana OF overlong storage, which may
cause wasteful or injurious deteriora-
ton; Attempts to remedy these abuses
ing made. one Of the most popular sp-
parently being a three months time
limitation on the storage period.
SO far as eggs are concerned, this
movement Is meeting with great OPP
position from large dealers, who point
~ that three months is quite too
mercially profitable. The question then
seems to be whether fraud on the pub
lie purse or injury to the public
health can be traced to the storage Of
eggs at a low temperature for q pc
riod longer than three months. Pub
meager, show that progressive physi-
cal changes AXE place in cold stor-
age eggs. and such changes being es-
pecially evidenced by loss of weight
and by an increased tendency OF yolks
and whites to mlngle. Chemically, there
is a lowering of the amount of coagul-
able protein and q lowered percent
age of lecithin phosphorus. All In
crease In the lower nitrogen bodies,
proteoses and peptones. Is noted, while
there Is apparently a decrease in amido
bodies. Bacterially. storage eggs ap-
pear to be sterile or Inhabited by a
few colonies OF the more resistant
fungi. Whether sue changes as those
Indicated impair the food value of the
g or render 1t injurious to health is
a point worthy Of investigation. It does
not lilo that. because chemical al
terations have occurred in a nitrog-
enous substance, the resulting product
is necessarily unfit for food. Ripened
cheese has been ordinarily subjected
to the long continued action of envy
mes and bacteria. but its food value
appears to be high.
OF course, quite apart from the effect
of cold storage on the food value of
g the fact that most people find
cold storage eggs less palatable than
fresh eggs renders the former less
available for many uses. While the
buyer Is Bic to judge of the quality
OF most foodstuffs by their appearance
In the market: a cold storage egg.
"AiSA oAASACo luz safe, lS pFaCClCdlly
indistinguishable from a fresh one; it
is on the table If at all the difference
is apparent. Whatever the final de-
cision as to the effect on health of
the use of cold storage eggs, therefore,
the public has a right to demand that
it shall not be made to buy cold stor-
age eggs under the belief that they
are fresh. or to pay the price of fresh
81 for stored ones. 1t seems pos
sible that If dealers were compelled
to call cold storage eggs by their
right name and to state the length of
time they had been in storage, many
Of the disadvantages now ascribed to
the practice Of cold storage would be
removed. At least, 1t is probable that
the industry would tend to assume
less speculative and more normal
proportions.