Egg grades: a matter of quality

foreign foreign [Music] extra large [Music] medium that's what we see in the grocery store but what does it mean and why do we need those markings to find out let's take a look at today's egg business and see how eggs get from the hen to you modern egg production and packing is a big business and a very efficient one here in a typical egg producing facility there are 270 000 Working Hands nine houses each holding thirty thousand Birds this breed of chickens lays a white-shelled egg some other breeds lay eggs with brown shells contrary to myth there is no other difference between white and brown eggs in quality in nutrition in taste or in anything else This Modern plant holds the hens working life to about 13 months in that time she is expected to lay some 250 eggs then the whole flock will be replaced by a new Young flock which in its turn will go through a 13-month laying cycle the laying hens are shipped here from pullet farms at about 20 weeks of age the pullet Farm typically is a separate business in itself devoted just to the production of laying hands foreign business is the production of feed proper nutrition for the laying hands is important for high quality egg production the feed brought here in bulk tank trucks is pumped into holding bins at the laying houses each of the 180 tons of feed consumed here weekly has been computer balanced by the feed company for correct nutritional content foreign [Music] like any other business the egg business these days takes a lot of paperwork records on production feeding culling costs profits or losses a far cry from the days when the farm wife kept a few hens for egg money and in this production facility no one gathers eggs it's all mechanized each egg is on its way to packaging only moments after it's late here the conveyor belts in each laying house feed onto a main conveyor or gathering line as the eggs make the transfer they're counted on an average day some 10 to 13 000 dozen eggs are funneled from each laying house into the processing plant once there they're less than a half hour away from final package the first step in the processing line is a sorting area where eggs with broken shells are removed then they go into the egg washer where they're thoroughly cleaned and sanitized next comes the most important operation Mass candling only clean sound high quality eggs are permitted to move through workers remove those with checks or cracks in the Shell those with odd shaped or rough shelves as well as eggs with blood or meat spots or stains on the Shelf in a modern closely controlled operation like this it is possible to produce uniformly high quality eggs only the defective ones need be removed the rest will measure up to the U.S department of agriculture's quality standards for grade A or double A the sizes will vary however that's because hens at the beginning of their egg laying career will lay small eggs then progressively larger eggs until by the time they're retired they may be laying mostly extra large eggs and sometimes even jump sizing two is done by machinery as the eggs travel onto the scale the heavier ones like the jumbos and extra large trip the scales first each egg really is weighed individually when it trips the proper scale off it goes into its correct packing line eggs are packed according to six official U.S department of Agriculture weight classes based on minimum weights per dozen jumbos which weigh 30 ounces per dozen extra large which weigh 27 ounces per dozen large the most commonly seen size which weigh 24 ounces per dozen that's a pound and a half medium which weigh 21 ounces a dozen small which weigh 18 ounces per dozen and finally kiwi which weighs 15 ounces per dozen the sizes you're most likely to see in the grocery store are extra large large and medium now the eggs are packed into the cartons you see in the store again it's all automatic then it's off to a refrigerated holding room to await shipment to market the whole process from hand to the cooler has taken less than an hour but the eggs are not quite ready for shipment yet there's one more step this plant uses the U.S department of Agriculture egg grading service this service is voluntary and plants using it pay a fee to cover the cost when plants use this service The Grater makes careful checks of plant sanitation and operating procedures he'll make sure that the eggs have been cooled to the proper temperature and he will check not only the temperature of the cooling room but also its humidity since both are important in maintaining the high quality of the eggs from here to when you take the eggs from the Grocer's refrigerated case perhaps within 24 hours of the time they were laid they will be kept cool that's the secret of maintaining the quality the USDA grader checks the quality and weight of Representative samples of this lot of eggs to make sure that they measure up to the words on the label U.S grade A or double A large medium or small the USDA grader checks the interior quality of the eggs by looking at them through a candling light once all eggs were canceled this way but the mass scanner has replaced this procedure except for the checking performed by the grader the grader can tell a lot by looking at the egg this way the size of the air cell the condition of the yolk the thickness of the white all of these things tell him the quality of the egg [Music] with the eggs broken out you can see what the greater sees what high quality eggs look like on the left is a U.S grade double a egg and on the right is a U.S grade A both have the high well-rounded yoke and the thick upstanding white that mean high quality the white spreads out very little these are the kind you want to use for frying and poaching you don't see many grade bee eggs for sale at retail anymore although just as nutritious as the higher grades the Grade B egg has a flatter yolk and the white is not as thick it spreads out over a greater area most Grade B and other undergrade eggs go to egg processing plants and they're eventually used in products like mayonnaise noodles and baked goods the white material you often see in fresh eggs is called the Collazo cord it anchors the Yoke in place and is a natural and normal part of the egg The Grater checks the egg weights on a highly accurate scale to make sure that carton markings are correct the weight of the egg does not relate to its quality you can buy grade A or double A eggs in any size contrary to popular belief bigger does not mean better large eggs can be low quality too [Music] when you see this grade Shield you will know that the quality and the size marked on the carton have been certified by a USDA grader look for it the next time you're shopping [Music]