Morris Ovson was a Russian citizen who emigrated to the United States in 1904 and became an American citizen in 1909. Ovson found employment as an egg candler for the H.J. Keith Company. In time, Ovson became a processing operations inspector and opened new production and processing facilities for the company. Keith also sent Ovson to Europe to learn how to produce dried eggs. In 1917, Keith sent Morris to Shanghai to open a new dried and frozen egg production company, the Amos Bird Company (which became part of The Borden Food Corporation).