COMPARISON OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AND STREPTOCOCCUS FAECALIS AS A TEST ORGANISM TO DETERMINE THE SANITARY QUALITY OF FOOD1 PART I

Abstract

Since the discovery of the role that bacteria play in disease, a search has been made for a suitable organism that would be indicative of dangerous bacterial contamination in food. Early work with pathogenic bacteria indicated that they would not be suitoble to serve this purpose since they were hard to isolate, were too fastidious, and died off quickly under conditions favorable for keeping food. For these and other reasons the search turned to other bacteria associated with pathogenic bacteria but which were hardier and easier to work with and identify. Fullfilling these requirements were two organisms, E. coli and Strept. faecalis, normal inhabitants of the intestinal tract and associated with many pathogenic bacteria especiallv the enteric bacteria which ore responsible for many food outbreaks. Today the presence of moderate numbers of these organisms is not considered a sure sign of dangerous contamination but rather of possible contamination. Their presence indicates that a search for the cause of t...