Artificial sausage casings were used as a model for studying bacterial
attachment to meat connective tissue. Sausage casings of known mass w
ere exposed to suspensions of Salmonella typhimurium in 0.15 M NaCI un
der various time, temperature, and inoculum level regimes, then washed
to remove unattached bacteria. Attached bacterial cells were enumerat
ed using both plate counts and scanning electron microscopy. Bacterial
cells attached to sausage casing surfaces within 1 min of incubation.
Numbers of attached cells increased with increasing temperature and i
noculum levels and with time. Rates of attachment of S. typhimurium to
sausage casings were comparable with those reported for attachment to
meat surfaces. Sausage casings appear to be a convenient model for ex
amining mechanisms of bacterial attachment to meats.