PHOSPHORESCENCE OF MEAT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1847, 31 July 1907, Page 9

PHOSPHORESCENCE OF MEAT

CAUSED BY A BACILLUS. During the last few days, says the Melbourne “Age,” ptomaine poisoning of a mild tyue bars been experienced in several families, and there lias not been the con-sumption of decayed meat to account for it. Dr A. A. Brown, tho bacteriologist of the Agricultural Department, attributes it to phosphorescence in butchers’ meat. He states that tins phosphorescence was not known in Melbourne until four years ago, when he reported on - the subject to the Minister of Agriculture. He attributes it to the fact that the abattoirs have been erected oil swampy ground, as he identifies the organism as the bacillus pflugerii. Tho luminosity lias been frequently observed in at least one of the suburbs, and while -some people have supposed that it arose from the bonedust with wh-ic-li the land was manured, others have attributed it to different causes, while some butchers have imagined that some evilly dispo-sed persons have rubbed phosphorous over their meat- This phosphorescence on the meat has been observed in the cupboards of private households, and the matron of the family lias sometimes been alarmed thereat. Tlie real cause of this ptomaine poisoning is, Dr Brown believes, the keeping by butchers of meat tainted, perhaps at the abattoirs, in their ice chambers, and the failure to thoroughly cleanse and disinfect these chambers, which are as a rule small and ill ventilated. He recommends that butchers should thoroughly cleanse such chambers and disinfect them with a 5 per cent, solution of potassium orthodinitro cresol. This is not a poison, and is l not harmful to the hands or to any metal utensils that may be in the ice chamber. It should be well rubbed into the walls after they are scrubbed, and it will rid the place of the phosphorescence and remove the cause of ptomaine poisoning.