A bacteriological study of ham souringMcBryde, Charles Neil
Science
A bacteriological study of ham souring
McBryde, Charles Neil
Ham -- Microbiology
In figure 3 the plus signs after the figures represent the distribution
of the sour-ham bacillus in one of the hams from tierce 1, and this
may be taken as a typical example of the other sour hams which were
examined in this experiment. It should be explained that the shaded
areas are not intended to represent the actual limits of souring, but
simply the areas in which the sour odor was most pronounced and from
which it could be readily obtained with the trier. In comparing the
regular and mild cure hams, it was found that the areas of souring as
defined with the trier were more restricted in the regular cure hams,
and this was undoubtedly due to the additional pumping which these hams
received, whereby the growth of the bacillus was partially inhibited.
[Illustration:
FIG. 3.—Cross section through body of artificially soured ham,
showing sour areas and points at which cultures were taken.
Darker shading indicates sour area in hams pumped in body and
shank; light shading indicates sour area in hams pumped in
shank only; figures indicate points at which cultures were
taken; plus signs indicate presence of bacillus; minus sign
indicates absence of bacillus; X indicates point of inoculation.]
It will be noticed that the sour-ham bacillus was present in cultures
taken at points outside the shaded areas, indicating that the organism
had extended generally throughout the bodies of the hams. As the
hams were inoculated at a point just to one side of and a little
behind the femur (i. e., at the point X in the figure), the presence
of the bacillus generally throughout the hams would indicate a very
extensive multiplication of the original bacilli with which the hams
were injected. In view of the fact that the bacillus in question is
nonmotile, the spread of the bacilli throughout the hams must result
simply from subdivision and growth by extension, and in spreading
throughout the hams the bacilli appear to follow along the connective
tissue bands which afford paths of least resistance. In the cultures
made from the bone marrow the bacillus was recovered in pure culture
from each of the hams examined, and it is probable that the bacillus
finds its way into the bone marrow from the meat by following along the
small arteries which pass through the bone. The fact that the bacillus
was found in pure culture (i. e., uncontaminated) in the cultures
made from the bone marrow is explained probably by its capacity for
growth by extension, and also by the fact that the pickling solutions
probably do not reach the bone marrow until late in the curing and
then only to a limited extent. The bacteria which ordinarily occur in
pickling fluids are not strict anaerobes and are not placed under the
most suitable conditions for growth when they reach the interior of
the ham, for it seems probable that in the interior of hams which are
totally submerged in pickling fluids the amount of available oxygen
must be extremely small.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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