A selective medium for the rapid isolation of pseudomonads associated with poultry meat spoilage.

1. A new selective medium (CFC) has been developed for the rapid isolation of pigmented and non-pigmented pseudomonads associated with the spoilage of poultry meat held under chill conditions. It comprises Difco Heart Infusion Agar supplemented with 50 microgram cephaloridine, 10 microgram fucidin and 10 microgram cetrimide/ml. 2. CFC medium was found to be more selective than three other media which have been used for isolating pseudomonads from foods, when tested with pure cultures of 28 reference organisms. 3. CFC supported the growth of a higher proportion of pseudomonads from freshly-eviscerated carcasses and processing equipment when the organisms were present only in low numbers relative to other genera.