CLOSTRIDIUM MULTIFERMENTANS IN CHOCOLATE CREAM CANDIES

Of 24 samples of spoiled chocolate creams examined, 18 showed the presence of gas-producing organisms. Four of these showed good gas production in the initial tubes, but the gasproducers were not isolated. From 1 sample C. bifermentans was isolated; from two, C. tertium; and from the remaining 11, a saccharolytic anaerobe which we think to be the C. multifermentans of Stoddard (1915). Where the gas-former was demonstrated but was afterwards lost, and where other gas-formers than C. multifermentans were isolated, there was every reason for believing, from morphology, stains and cultural characteristics, that it was present in the initial fermentation tubes, but was lost in the isolation process. This organism was also isolated three times from "mazetta cream, a commercial preparation used by confectioners as a