Abstract
During the period from June 1977 through May 1978, a total of 1, 035 samples of liquid whole egg and a total of 840 samples of shell egg were examined bacteriologically. Unpasteurized whole eggs were contaminated more intensively in summer season than in winter season, but pasteurized whole eggs had only small counts of total and coliform bacteria regardless of season. Enterococci, contained at the level of 102/g in the unpasteurized whole eggs, hardly decreased by pasteurization and freezing. The surface of washed shell eggs (total count 3.9×104/egg, and coliform count 2.8×10/egg) were contaminated slightly comparing with unwashed shell eggs (3.6×106/egg, and 1.9×102/egg respectively). In the survey of microbial flora, gram positive cocci and coryneform were predominant on the surface of shell egg, gram negative bacteria such as Enterobacteriaceae, Aeromonas and Pseudomonas were main bacteria in the unpasteurized whole egg, and gram positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, Streptococcus and Bacilius were observed as well as gram negative bacteria in the pasteurized whole egg.
