A bacteriological study of ham souring

"A Bacteriological Study of Ham Souring" by Charles Neil McBryde is a scientific paper that examines why hams spoil, a costly problem for meat companies in the early 1900s. The paper uses research to find the tiny organisms that cause ham to sour and to figure out better ways to cure hams. It starts by explaining how important this issue is, since ham souring can cause big financial losses for meat-packing businesses. McBryde then summarizes the ham curing process and describes what sour ham looks and smells like, also rating the ham in terms of severity. He then discusses his experiments and prior theories about meat souring, trying to understand and solve the problem using science to help the meat-packing industry.