A series of studies were made to examine various aspects of the microbial contamination of enteral feeds. These studies included surveys of hospital practice and laboratory investigations of the quality of feed ingredients, the levels of contamination in feeds in a local hospital and the growth of contaminants in enteral feeds under laboratory and simulated ward conditions. Surveys carried out during 1982-1984 revealed a variety of practices in the preparation and administration of enteral feeds in hospitals and also several potential sources of microbial contamination. These included the feed ingredients, inadequately cleaned kitchen equipment and poor handling procedures such as re-use of nutrient containers and storage of non-sterile feeds at ambient temperature for up to 12h prior to administration. The microbiological quality of 19 commonly used enteral feeds and feed ingredients was examined. Thirteen of the products yielded no viable micro-organisms, while six, all of which were powders containing milk or whey proteins, gave aerobic viable counts from 50-3000 cfu g-1 . The main organisms isolated were Staph, albus and aerobic sporeformers such as B. cereus. Studies of the growth of bacteria in experimentally contaminated enteral feeds showed no increase in numbers of any of the organisms in any of the feeds over 24h at 4
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