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. 1979 Apr;37(4):667–669. doi: 10.1128/aem.37.4.667-669.1979

Survival of bacteria in carcasses.

C O Gill, N Penney
PMCID: PMC243278  PMID: 222211

Abstract

Bacteria injected into the bloodstream of guinea pigs shortly before death decreased in number in carcass tissues for about 1 h after death. If initial bacterial numbers were sufficiently low, all bacteria were eliminated, and carcass tissues were sterile 24 h after death. Carcass tissue sterility was maintained with an initial density of Clostridium perfringens or Salmonella typhimurium of 20 cells per g or with an initial density of the other species examined of several hundred cells per gram. With larger numbers of strict and facultative anaerobes, growth commenced after 3 h in carcasses incubated at 30 degrees C. Spores of C. perfringens were killed over the same period as vegetative cells, but growth did not commence until 8 h after death. Bactericidal activity in carcass tissues must therefore be taken into account in evaluating the significance of reports of deep-tissue contamination of carcasses from meat animals.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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