Detection of SaZmoneZlu in thaw water, pericloacal skin and whole carcass rinse samples from naturally contaminated broiler chickens was compared. Of 100 birds tested, 70 were found to contain Salmonellae by the three sampling techniques combined; the median level of contamination was 0.27 salmonellae/lOOg eviscerated carcass weight. Recovery with the whole carcass rinse technique (93%) was significantly greater than that obtained with thaw water (63%) and skin (74%) methods; performance of the latter two methods was not statistically different. Thaw water does not provide a reliable index of Salmonella contamination and therefore is not a suitable method for the nondestructive analysis of poultry carcasses. Selective enrichment in tetrathionate brilliant green broth and plating on bismuth sulfite agar identified the greatest number of contaminated carcasses under all sampling conditions.

Inhibitory concentrations of 8 surfactants were determined for Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella enteritidis. Pure culture work resulted in the exclusion of Tween 20, Teepol 610 and Brij 35 and retention of Tergitol-7 (T-7), Tween 80 (TW 80), Triton X-100 (TX), Myrj 52S (M), and Arlacel 80 + Tween 60 (AT) for a study on the quantitative recovery of Salmonella in 45 naturally contaminated fatty foods. Replicate food samples (100 g) were preenriched overnight at 35 C in nutrient broth supplemented with 3%(w/v) surfactant except AT (10%). Serial dilutions of preenrichment cultures were selectively enriched overnight in tetrathionate brilliant green (43 C) and selenite cystine (35 C) broths and streaked on bismuth sulfite and brilliant green sulfa agar media. Recovery with all test surfactants was comparable to that obtained with nutrient broth controls; of 270 preenrichment cultures tested, only 7 false-negative results attributable to TX (3), AT (2), M (1), and nutrient broth control (1) were obtained. None of the surfactants consistently yielded greater populations of Salmonella for given foods or food categories; median counts for preenrichment cultures were 104–105 salmonellae/ml for low and high moisture foods and 106–107 salmonellae/ml for animal feeds. These results suggest that use of surfactants to facilitate detection of Salmonella in fatty foods is not warranted.

Recovery rates of fecal coliforms and of Escherichia coli were determined at 44.5, 45.0 and 45.5°C in raw milk, ground meat and raw sewage. MPN values based on gas production (Standard MPNs) and on gas production and/or growth only (Total MPNs) were calculated for both fecal coliforms and for E. coli. The expected trend towards lower MPN values with increasing incubation temperature was more pronounced for the Standard MPNs than for the Total MPNs. The temperature effect was also strongly product - specific in that the Total and Standard MPNs for the fecal coliforms and the Standard MPNs for E. coli for sewage only differed significantly from one another within each determination at the three different incubation temperatures. The effect of length of incubation time on the ratios of E. coli to fecal coliforms was most pronounced at 45.5°C. Product specificity was again observed. The greatest increase in the recovery rate of aerogenic E. coli between 24 and 48 h of incubation time occurred in sewage (66%). For meat, the increase was 57% and for milk 46%. In terms of combined (aerogenic and anaerogenic) E. coli (expressed as Total MPNs), the increases were considerably less, but highest for the meat (33%), followed by sewage (29%) and by milk (21%). A breakdown of the E. coli isolates recovered from both gas-positive and gas-negative primary (fecal coliform) EC broth tubes showed that for the three products combined there were eight times as many false-positives at 44.5°C as at the other two incubation temperatures. In contrast, there were 12% false-negatives at 45.5°C compared to 3% at 45.0°C and 2% at 44.5°C. Since the high incidence of false-negatives (loss of E. coil) at 45.5°C is not counter-balanced by an enhanced specificity (fewer false-positives) over 45.0°C, the latter temperature is to be preferred. Meat yielded the lowest rate for false-positives at any of the three incubation temperatures. In contrast, at 45.5°C, it gave 21% false-negatives compared to only 9% for sewage and 10% for milk. On the other hand, milk contributed the most false-positives at 44.5°C (20%), compared to only 1% for meat and 3% for sewage. A potential loss of 21% of E. coli - containing EC broth tubes is hardly tolerable, reinforcing the contention that gas formation at evaluated temperatures is not a valid criterion of fecal origin.

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