The growth of salmonellas on cooked cured pork

With the use of streptomycin-resistant mutants to facilitate recovery, 5 strains of 4 species of Salmonella were shown to grow rapidly at 22 degrees C. on low salt ham even from an inoculum of 10-20 organisms. S. pullorum did not grow well. All 6 strains of Salmonella survived but did not grow on ;high salt ham'. We conclude that cooked ham containing approximately 2.8 g. NaCl/100 g. H(2)O once infected is more likely to give rise to food poisoning than is ham with the higher salt content traditionally used.