bacteria present, including B. prodigiosus, B. botulinus, B. enteritidis, 

 and two molds of minor importance, indicating- serious underproces- 

 sing, leaky cans, or contamination of cultures. 



In 1911 Sammet studied different kinds of fish put up in cans in 

 various ways. He found some of those preserved in vinegar .spoiled 

 and had acetic bacteria present, also spore formers of the mesen- 

 tericus group were present. In salted fish, such as anchovies, he 



While working for the Bureau of Chemistry, Mrs. Obst exam- 

 found micrococci and, rarely, bacteria of the mesentericus group, 

 ined sardines and isolated a spore former resembling, if not identical 

 with, B. walfischrauschbrand (Nielson). Sadler of Canada isolated 

 bacteria from canned sardines. In examination of the cottonseed oil 

 used, no bacteria were isolated. 



Dr. Weinzirl, in 1918, studied canned salmon and found two out 

 of 17 cans contained living bacteria, or other organisms. He also 

 found the colon group prevailing in canned sardines. Since the in- 

 testines are not removed from the fish it may be that the bacteria 

 there present survive the processing. This group causes the can to 

 swell and spoils the fish as well. 



In 1919, Hunter and Thom examined 537 cans of salmon and 

 found 237, or 44.7 per cent, contained living organisms in one form 

 or another. The high prevalence of non-sterile cans might in part be 

 due to the class of canned goods inspected. They confined their in- 

 vestigations largely to canned salmon rejected by the Quartermaster 

 Corps. They isolated a peculiar spore former that has a tendency to 

 redden the meat of salmon and whose spores resisted a considerable 

 degree of heat. 



In the National Canners' Association laboratory, Bagley Hall, 

 University of Washington, Seattle, 1920, Dr. C. R. Fellers, Mr. 

 R. W. Clough, and Mr. O. E. Shostrom found in over 200 normal 

 commercial packs of salmon an average of 7.2 per cent of non-sterile 

 cans. In suspected packs this percentage was much higher. In an 

 experimental pack of canned salmon prepared in the same laboratory, 

 only 4 per cent were found non-sterile. The fish were canned in 

 one-half pound flat cans and were processed 80 minutes at 240° F, 



DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIMENT 



Cultures used. Cultures were obtained from the bacteriology 

 department. University of Washington, and subcultures were streaked 

 on agar petri plates, these plates being used because they have a large 

 surface upon which to get an abundant growth. In all cases the 

 subcultures were allowed to incubate not less than three days. This 

 gave ample time for the formation of spores. Spore-forming bac- 



111 



