RESUMO

A simple iron-milk medium was used for the isolation and enumeration (MPN) if Clostridium perfringens from fresh sausages. Samples were diluted (log 10) in 0.1% peptone water, aliquots seeded and incubated at 45°C for 16-18 h, and cultures with clots and stormy fermentation were considered positive. Confirmation of C. perfringens was made by subculturing in tryptose-sulfite-neomycin agar under anaerobic conditions. Suspect colonies were identified by standard procedures, including nitrate reduction, gelatin liquefaction, lipase and lecithinase production, starch hydrolysis, hemolysis and reverse CAMP test. From 136 samples studied, 110 were positive. Twenty-six, 48, 25, 7, 3, and 1 samples contained, respectively 10, 102, 103, 104, 105, and 109 C. perfringens per g of food. Three per cent of samples contained enough bacteria to produce food poisoning. The frequency of distribution approximately follows the Poisson equation with a µ=1.793.