Food Quality Testing and Microbial Indicators
Discover quality indicator testing including culture media, manual and automatic enumeration and commercial sterility.
Quality Indicators
Quality indicator organisms may be employed to reflect the microbiological quality of foods relative to product shelf life or their safety from foodborne pathogens. In general, indicators are most often used to assess food safety/sanitation.
Culture Media – Quality Indicators
Quality control of microbiological culture media is central to the success of the QC microbiology laboratory. It is based on reports of microbiology laboratory depends upon the quality of the culture media used. And the quality of media directly affects the observations and inferences drawn from the cultural characteristics of microorganisms.
Alternative Methods – Spiral Method, Petrifilm™ and MC-Media Pad®
Spiral
The Spiral® method enables the automatic and standardized plating of a sample – allowing 4 dilution series on one Petri dish. The sample is plated in a form of an increasingly dilute spiral (from the center to the periphery). The volume is calibrated and known at every point of the Petri dish.
Dry medium culture plate (MC-MEDIA PAD® or Petrifilm™)
- Ready to use — reduce or eliminate time-consuming agar prep
- Proven testing methods for consistent, reliable results
- Compact size uses less storage/incubator space
These methods serve as a convenient method for the rapid routine testing of microbial contamination of raw and in-process food and beverage materials, and finished products. They are pre-sterilized, ready-to-use dry culture device, simplifying testing and minimizing the quantity of waste.
Cytometry-based methods
It can be used to screen UHT products. This method uses a fluorescent labelling technique to detect viable cells directly in liquids by flow cytometry. The technique is relatively sensitive and has the potential to reduce the pre-incubation time of samples significantly. It can be applied to a range of non-filterable liquid food and beverage products and a protocol for sterility testing of UHT products has been developed for food manufacturers.
Bioluminescence (ATP, CO2..)
One of the most widely used rapid methods for detection of contamination in UHT products is ATP-bioluminescence. By using a luminometer to detect light produced from microbial ATP in a reaction catalysed by the enzyme luciferase, it is possible to detect quite low levels of microbial cells in the sample, provided that it can be pre-treated with reagents designed to reduce background levels of non-microbial ATP in the sample. The method can be used as a presence/absence test for screening large numbers of UHT treated food and beverage samples after a considerably reduced pre-incubation time.
Commercial Sterility – Cytometry and Bioluminescence
Cytometry-based methods – relatively sensitive and fast
Cytometry-based methods can be used to screen UHT products. This method uses a fluorescent labelling technique to detect viable cells directly in liquids by flow cytometry. The technique is relatively sensitive and has the potential to reduce the pre-incubation time of samples significantly. It can be applied to a range of non-filterable liquid food and beverage products and a protocol for sterility testing of UHT products has been developed for food manufacturers.
Bioluminescence (ATP, CO2…) – most widely used rapid methods
One of the most widely used rapid methods for detection of contamination in UHT products is ATP-bioluminescence. By using a luminometer to detect light produced from microbial ATP in a reaction catalysed by the enzyme luciferase, it is possible to detect quite low levels of microbial cells in the sample, provided that it can be pre-treated with reagents designed to reduce background levels of non-microbial ATP in the sample. The method can be used as a presence/absence test for screening large numbers of UHT treated food and beverage samples after a considerably reduced pre-incubation time.
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