Lactobacillus Flora of Meats and Meat Products from Retail Stores

Meats and meat products purchased from retail stores were studied to determine the viable counts and isolation rate of Lactobacillus subgenera and the effect of incubation temperature on the isolation of lactobacilli. All the samples of meats, meat products sold by the slice and sausages of home-made type were found to contain lactobacilli, but no more than 23% of the packed meat products were Lactobacillus-positive. After the cut meat samples had been stored at 4°C, the viable counts of streptobacteria increased by about 102-fold to 104-fold as compared with those in the fresh samples, while thermobacteria and betabacteria, with the exception of one sample of the latter, showed no change or even a decrease in counts. Streptobacteria and psychrophilic betabacteria were isolated from some of the meat products with a remarkable increase in counts during storage. Incubation of plates at 37°C was shown to be essential for isolation of thermobacteria and thermophilic betabacteria from meats.