BACTERIOLOGY OF MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS 1 25 



have been found by some workers but not by others when 

 adequate differentiating tests are used. Zweifel 1 at Leipzig 

 examined 248 specimens of " hackfleisch " obtained quite fresh, 

 and in 165 cases found B. proteus and other bacilli, all non- 

 pathogenic to mice by feeding. 



Sausages. According to the writer's own examinations, 

 bacilli are present in large numbers and the kinds present 

 usually include bacilli of excretal type. The bacterial content 

 in B. coli group organisms in 27 sausage samples obtained from 

 different sources examined by the writer 2 was as follows : 



B. coli organisms No. of specimens 



Less than 10 per grm. of sausage-meat o 



JO 100 



IOO IOOO 

 1OOO IO,OOO 



10,000 100,000 

 Over 100,000 



Over loo but number not estimated ... ... 4 



The number of organisms present was determined for a few 

 of the samples and varied from 360,000 to over 600,000 per 

 gramme. 



Streptococci were also present in large numbers in a majority 

 of the samples examined. 



These results were obtained with sausages examined quite 

 freshly prepared, all being made the same day. 



Evidently in sausages as usually manufactured there is a 

 considerable access of material containing excretal bacilli. 



Brawn. Brawn is or should be thoroughly boiled when 

 prepared so that whatever its original bacterial contamination it 

 should be free from B. coli and non-sporing bacteria when made. 

 As a rule this is the case, but brawn is a material very favourable 

 to bacterial multiplication so that if, after preparation, it is 

 placed in positions liable to bacterial contamination specimens 

 will soon show a high bacterial content. Of n samples 

 examined by the writer B. coli was absent in 0*1 grm. in seven, 



1 Centralb. f. Bakt. 1911, vol. LVIII, p. 115. 



2 Journ. Roy. San. Inst. 1908, vol. XXIX, p. 366, and Local Govt. Board Medical 

 Officer's Report, 1909-10, p. 446. 



