MEAT BACTERIA I'jg 



Sausage meats are found on the market so highly colored as to 

 produce a red ink with the water in which they are boiled. The 

 meat dealer tries to deceive the housewife by stating that the 

 red color is derived from the rich red blood of the meat itself, 

 whereas the red coloring matter of the blood is decomposed by 

 the boiling and the boiled meat extract is only slightly colored. 

 Very frequently pickled pigs' feet appear on the market which look 

 quite normal, the only suspicious character being an unusual 

 pallor of the surface with a smeary consistency and a lack in the 

 flavor. On microscopical examination it will be found that the 

 surface of the meat is covered or coated with yeast cells, mold 

 hyphse and mold spores and bacteria. The American method 

 of making sausage and sausage meats from carelessly and pro- 

 miscuously handled meat trimmings which accumulate during 

 the day's work in the retail meat markets, is accountable for the 

 high contamination with bacteria and other organisms (10,000,000 

 to 100,000,000 per gram). Such sausage meats are also very 

 frequently colored to reduce the pallor due to the use of ex- 

 cessive amounts of fatty tissue trimmings, thus leading the cus- 

 tomer to beheve that there is a considerable amount of muscular 

 (red meat) tissue present. The coloring also serves to hide the 

 beginnings of decomposition changes in the meat. Preservatives 

 are added to check and mask the decomposition changes which 

 have begun to manifest themselves. It is unlawful to add 

 coloring substances to sausage meats, but it is permissible to color 

 sausage casings. 



Numerous chemical tests for ascertaining the existence of 

 putrefactive changes in meats have been recommended. The 

 Ebers test appears to have met with considerable favor and is 

 made as follows: Into a test-tube pour about 3 cc. of a mixture 

 composed of i part of pure hydrochloric acid, i part ether and 

 3 parts alcohol. This tube may be closed with a perforated 

 rubber stopper carrying a glass rod which is pushed through 

 the opening of the stopper so that the end almost touches the 

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