Studies on the Food Putrefaction (III) : On amines production of putrefactive bacteria in fish Studies on the Food Putrefaction (III) : On amines production of putrefactive bacteria in fish

1. Micrococci were the most dominat among the putrefactive bacterial flora appearing when the fish was fresh. But as the putrefaction proceeded Gram-negative, non pigmented rods constituted a major component of the flora. Very frequently Proteus took the place of Achromobacter and occupied dominant proportion, which is a noteworthy fact from the stand point of food poisoning. 2. Among the amino-acid decarboxylase, lysine decarboxylase was fairly extensively distributed in Achromobacter, Proteus, Pseudomonas and others which dominated during the putrefactive period of fish. As its activity was strong, it is believed that it can be used as an indicator to show the freshness of fish. 3. Histidine decarboxylase was extensively distributed over all the purefactive bacterial flora in fish, but those which produced a large amount of histamine were limited to a few Proteus strains. 4. Other kinds of amino acid decarboxylase were not observed to be very extensively distributed except that glutamic acid decarboxylase was found to be distributed in Proteus strains. This study was supported in part by a grant from the ministry of Education.

1. Micrococci were the most dominat among the putrefactive bacterial flora appearing when the fish was fresh. But as the putrefaction proceeded Gram-negative, non pigmented rods constituted a major component of the flora. Very frequently Proteus took the place of Achromobacter and occupied dominant proportion, which is a noteworthy fact from the stand point of food poisoning. 2. Among the amino-acid decarboxylase, lysine decarboxylase was fairly extensively distributed in Achromobacter, Proteus, Pseudomonas and others which dominated during the putrefactive period of fish. As its activity was strong, it is believed that it can be used as an indicator to show the freshness of fish. 3. Histidine decarboxylase was extensively distributed over all the purefactive bacterial flora in fish, but those which produced a large amount of histamine were limited to a few Proteus strains. 4. Other kinds of amino acid decarboxylase were not observed to be very extensively distributed except that glutamic acid decarboxylase was found to be distributed in Proteus strains. This study was supported in part by a grant from the ministry of Education.