Survival of anaerobic bacteria in various thioglycolate and chopped meat broth formulations.

Three commercially available formulations of thioglycolate broth and of chopped meat broth were evaluated for their abilities to maintain the viabilities of 32 strains of anaerobic bacteria during a period of 8 weeks. While thioglycolate broth supported the initial (48-h) growth of all strains tested, approximately half of the strains died off within 4 weeks. Chopped meat broths maintained the viabilities of almost all cultures during the test period.