Occurrence of Monascus Barkeri in Bottled Pickles

Abstract

Some of the material was examined with a microscope and it was found that there were large numbers of fruit-bodies like those of Monascus. The writer is familiar with the appearance of both Monascus Barkeri Dangeard and Monascus purpureus Went, having grown these fungi in cultures for about three years. Plate cultures were made from some of the material from the pickles and the fungus which developed agreed in its characters with M. Barkeri. The fungus from the pickles and my cultures of M. Barkeri, which were secured originally from the Association Internationale des Botanistes, have been grown on the same culture media under the same conditions for two months and they appear to be identical. The occurrence of this fungus in a bottle of pickles from Chicago is of interest because the fungus was first described from material from eastern Asia, and, so far as the writer is aware, it has never been reported as occurring in America. The spores of Monascus retain their viability for long periods of time, even when dry, so its occurrence in bottled pickles in this country is probably explained by assuming that the fungus was carried by some of the spices which were used.