DIRECT EXAMINATION 



57 



products are not included in Tables II and III because there are not 

 sufficient data available on which to base suggestions. There 

 appears to be no plausible reason why canned animal products 

 should not be subjected to the same method of examination as 

 vegetable substances, particularly sausage meats, canned meats, 

 canned oysters and shellfish generally, canned eggs and canned 

 soup stocks. Pickled herring which shows 8,000,000,000 bacteria 

 per cc. in the liquor is certainly a questionable food article. In 



Fig. 17. — Spores and hyphal fragments from decaying sweet pepper. "Dry rot" 

 fungus. — {Howard, Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1911.) 



this particular instance there was no objectionable odor noticeable, 

 but the meat of the herring was somewhat soft. Smoked meats 

 and fish should be examined for mold in addition to bacteria. 

 This subject should receive immediate careful consideration on the 

 part of food bacteriologists. 



Table I shows the number of organisms which may occur in 

 some of the more common household food substances, fermented 

 and unfermented. The figures are based upon direct counts. 

 Table II is based upon the examination of factory products ob- 

 tained in the open market. The numerical extremes in the 

 micro-organisms given in Table II, are in direct ratio to the relative 



