Species Differentiation of Faecal and Nonfaecal Enterococci

Abstract

SU&TMARY.-A number of the cultural and biochemical criteria of the more resistant enterococci were used collectively to speciate 2,477 enterococci strains isolated from water, soil, vegetation, sewage and human and animal faeces into 2 major groups: Streptocorn faecalis and 5. fa&urn. Streptowccus faemlie WES found to predominate in the human and poultry gut, 8. faeoizLrn predominated in the livestock gut, while both organisms were about equally demonstrated in water, soil, vegetation and sewage samples.

Classification of enterococci and their roles in spoilage of pork products and as sanitary indicators in pork processing

“…In the routine procedures employed , E. coli may be confused with physiologically similar bacteria. Many workers have emphasized the importance of enterococci as indicators of fecal pollution (7,108,126,151). In the past, the acceptance of enterococci as pollution indicators also had been questioned.…”

“…Despite their ubiquity in nature, the natural habitat of the enterococci is the intestinal tracts of man and animals and their occurrence in food or water implies either indirect or direct fecal contamination (62). The relative resistance of these organisms to adverse conditions, such as tolerance to extremes in temperature, pH, and salinity is advantageous in the examination of sea water, soft drinks and dried, frozen and processed foods where conforms might not have survived (108). Although the enterococci are not entirely host specific, they do show some degree of host specificity (70).…”