The incidence of Weeksella- and Bergeyella-like bacteria in the food environment.

Eighty-five catalase- and oxidase-positive Gram-negative rods and cocci susceptible to penicillin G were isolated from a variety of food sources. The phenotypic relationships of these isolates with reference cultures of Bergeyella-like, Chryseobacterium, Empedobacter, Myroides, Moraxella, Sphingobacterium and Weeksella-like strains were examined by numerical taxonomy. Seventy-three isolates were recovered in five groups; 80% of the isolates clustered in groups 1, 2 and 3 and produced indole, bearing a strong resemblance to Weeksella and Bergeyella. They could not, however, be regarded as belonging to the known species of W. virosa and B. zoohelcum. It is suggested that three species may be necessary to accommodate the environmental Weeksella- or Bergeyella-like bacteria. The isolates in groups 4 and 5 had white colonies and were unable to produce indole, in this way resembling the Moraxella genus.