The bacteriology of dehydrated vegetables

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Abstract
Considerable errors arose when the plate count method was used to determine the number of bacteria on dehydrated vegetables. Bacteria probably occurred on the surface of the vegetables only.Plate counts tended to be greater when suspensions were prepared at higher temperatures over the range 10–40° C. Counts often increased by 20% and sometimes by 50% in the short period allowed in the standard procedure (25 min.), probably owing to multiplication of bacteria. Changes in the volume of suspensions, caused by rehydration of vegetables, led to small errors for which allowance could be made. Larger variations in count arose from sampling errors through differences in the number of bacteria on individual strips and, to a lesser extent, through imperfect distribution of bacteria in suspensions. The relation of plate counts to the actual number of bacteria on the vegetables was uncertain.However, the error in counting a single sample (— 65% to + 150%) was appreciably smaller than that in counting successive samples from the same factory (about fivefold) and this in turn was less than the variation between different factories (up to a thousandfold). The plate count could therefore be used with some confidence as a general guide to the state of factory hygiene.The author is grateful for assistance given by Dr M. Stephenson, F.R.S., of the Biochemical Laboratory, Cambridge, and by Dr M. Ingram, Dr H. G. Wager and others of the Low Temperature Research Station, Cambridge.

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