Sausage (5 g) was homogenized with 45 ml 0.1% most recovery diluent (Oxoid, UK) for 1 min in a Colworth stomacher 400 (UK) (ICMSF 1978). 10-fold serial dilutions were prepared and 0.1 ml sausage suspension was spread on plates of standard plate count agar (Oxoid, UK). Total bacteria were enumerated by incubating the plates aerobically at 27 °C for 3 days (Curran et al. 1981).