Detection and Enumeration of Fecal Indicator Organisms in Frozen Sea Foods

Abstract

Consistently high recoveries of enterococci as compared to the low numbers of coliforms obtained from the same samples of frozen sea foods are indirect evidence that enterococci are better indicators of contamination in such foods. The use of azide dextrose broth, modified by the incorporation of bromthymol blue, and of ethyl violet azide broth as presumptive and confirmation tests, respectively, were found to be highly specific for the detection and enumeration of enterococci in these samples. Tetrazolium agar medium, when used as a third step after the confirmation test, provides a reliable differentiation of Streplococcus faecalis types from other group D streptococci. A simple procedure is described for further identification of S. faecalis varieties and other enterococcal species. Incidence of biotypes within certain species is noted and relationships of these subgroups to the organisms described by other workers is discussed. The striking resistance of all group D streptococci to dihydrostreptomycin and polymyxin B seems to offer promise for evolving a new selective medium for these organisms.