[Presence of salmonellae and coliform bacteria in ground meat and the sources of its contamination].

Studied were a total of 14,944 samples of minced meat for the presence of Salmonellae and 608 samples for establishing the coli-titer. Examined were also bacteriologically 5651 washing samples from the workers' hands, the machines, equipment and stock implements in the shops for the production of minced meat prior to starting work as well as 3721 washing samples from the same for the presence of coliforms. It was found that 1.81 per cent of 14,188 samples of minced meat were contaminated with as many as 17 serotypes of Salmonella organisms belonging to the B, C and E serogroups. It was believed that the primary source of Salmonellae in minced meat were the clinically normal Salmonella carrier animals apart from the occasional contamination during the individual technologic stages of processing. The smallest amount of minced meat in which coli bacteria (titer) could be found varied within the range of 0.01 to 0.0001, 53 out of the investigated 608 samples, i. e. 8.72 per cent showing a titer of 0.01, 477 samples (78.45 per cent) having a titer of 0.001, and 78 samples (12.88 per cent) having a titer of 0.0001. Of the examined samples washings 25.69 were positive for coli bacteria, and 0.27 per cent--for Salmonella bacteria, which spoke of improper disinfection.