MICROSCOPICAL STUDIES ON TOMATO PRODUCTS. 19 
Table 9, which gives the data on the unconcentrated juice, shows. 
that on acceptable stock, as determined from visual inspection, the 
counts were low, ranging no higher than on American stock. The 
average counts on these samples are: Molds, 8 per cent of the micro- 
scopic fields; yeasts and spores, 8 per 1/60 cmm.; bacteria, 7,500,000 
per ce. On the other hand, Table 10 shows the counts on unconcen- 
trated pulps from bad or questionable stock. In this case there is a 
marked increase in the number of organisms, especially of yeasts and 
spores and bacteria over that found to occur in sound stock. 
Hence it is reasonable to conclude that with proper control over 
the manufacturing processes Italian products should be fully equal 
to’ American products made under similar conditions. The fin- 
ished product is on an average 2 or 24 times more concentrated 
TaBLE 11.—Analysis of Italian tomato sauces made from acceptable or fairly acceptable 
stock.} 
| 
Character] Yeasts Fields 
Sample. Description. from. in- and Bacteria.| with 
spection.2} spores. molds. 
Per 1:60 | Million 
cmm. per cc. | Per cent: 
520 | I'rom freshly delivered tomatoes; madeup promptly} O.K. 24 12 15 
ES) le osee COs Be ASSES ee BEE aot eae ies nl ie sid test aN O. K. 25 38 18 
eI Wessse GUO) S ere BSS SIRs OHI ear Berens ican a ay et A Oke 4) 49 12 
DS 21m ees CBI) St ec area aD) Maen eS ap UR a ee eo EN O. K. 46 28 15 
SEG! Neasoe CSU Oya es tte UE AS ay Ot Me ea ches Ue ta en a NR O. K. 48 24 12 
GBI) lssede COS wise SEES SEO SoC 1k eau erat laa Maps api luae One 32 49 11 
539b | From freshly delivered tomatoes.................-- mee 46 23 14 
548b | From freshly delivered tomatoes; washed but not 
SontedrtairlyyeO0d(StOCKea-cecseee eee ee selene O.K. 51 Bil 22 
561 | Made under personal supervision from fresh toma: 
LOLS Sara oS OS ERIS CCIE CSE ISIC CHM EN alae ee tent STE ie ke 40 25 4 
1 Analysis by B. J. Howard. 20. K., acceptadle from inspection of raw material. 
than standard pulp. Table 11 shows that the molds do not exceed 
25 per cent of the fields, or the counts obtained on normal pulp. 
On good stock the upper limit for yeasts and spores appears to be 
about 50 per 1/60 cmm., while for bacteria it is about 40 million 
per cc. In other words, the mold count does not seem to be much 
higher than that on the pulp, while the increase in the count for 
yeasts, spores, and bacteria is more nearly proportional to the degree 
of concentration. Examination of counts on the sauces and pastes 
mace from objectionable stock as determined by visual inspection 
(Table 12) shows that as a class they run particularly high in yeasts 
and spores and bacteria and are also rather high in molds. The 
average of these counts, excluding the questionable samples, is: 
Molds, 57 per cent of the fields; yeasts and spores, 511 per 1/60 cmm.; 
bacteria, 285,300,000 per cc. The contrast between these counts 
and those in Table 11 shows clearly the effect of sanitary methods 
on the character of the product. 
Investigation showed the following to be the principal causes for 
high counts of microorganisms in tomato pastes: (a) Partly decayed 
stock imperfectly washed or sorted; (6) delay at some stage in the 
