MICROBIOLOGY OF CRACKED EGGS 287

cracking spoiled very rapidly. Eggs exposed prior to cracking did not differ significantly from those eggs exposed to bacteria but not cracked. Apparently, the shell acts as a protective barrier for cracked eggs only so long as the egg is kept dry. Wetting the egg carries bacteria through or into the cracks, ultimately infecting the shell membranes and then the egg magma itself. SUMMARY 1. Unwashed, cracked eggs and cracked eggs washed in clean water with a sanitiz-ing detergent were not prone to spoilage during storage at 23°C. or 10°C. When wash water was contaminated with fresh chicken feces, the eggs became very prone to spoilage. Spoilage was retarded by cold storage. 2. While the spoilage of normal eggs by a laboratory strain of P. aeruginosa was THE evaluation of food color is a psychological problem of appeal and of sensitivity to attractiveness or to irrita-tion. In the case of egg yolk color there ex-ists an "optimal-yellow, " which must be "appetizingly pretty, " as determined by the "corruptible human eye " (Bitz, 1963). Consumer acceptability thus depends on visual impression, which is not always wel