Tag Archives: bacteria

An Aerobic Workout…In Your Food Operation

Source: CDC

Source: CDC

Aerobic bacteria (bacteria that require oxygen to live and thrive), like you and I, appreciate a chance to take a breath and reflect on plans for the future.  Single-cell life isn’t so easy, after all! Aerobic bacteria may wonder,” what will happen when I grow up/divide?” and, “Should I go into spoilage or perhaps foodborne illness?” Whatever the case, they sure are busy!

Their oxygen-loving (to merely tolerating) ways make them a desirable key target in the fight against contamination and product spoilage. Opposed to isolating and identifying specific aerobic bacteria, Aerobic Plate Count (APC) tests are utilized as general indicators of the presence of aerobic bacteria. Counting these aerobic colonies, as R. Dale Morton explains in the Compendium of Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods 4th Ed., “can be used successfully to gauge sanitary quality, organoleptic acceptability, adherence to good manufacturing practices and, to a lesser extent as an indicator of safety” (63).

Nelson-Jameson handles an array of APC products, including the recently launched 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plates. The product “facilitates colony enumeration in just 24 hours for most food matrices / environmental samples and resists distortion caused by spreader colonies.”

To learn more about aerobic bacteria click here. For more information on APC products, including the new 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plates email Jessica Goessl, Technical Sales Manager – Laboratory or call 800-826-8302.

Tags: , , ,

Are You Bringing the Right Plate to the Table?

70-2009-9360-1_LR_Rev-0214-3

Source: 3M

“You could also ask who’s in charge. Lots of people think, well, we’re humans; we’re the most intelligent and accomplished species; we’re in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That’s what’s going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.

As funny as that may sound and as puzzling as it may be to think about, it is true. Bacteria are everywhere; most of them are good and normal and are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of our health, environment, and well-being. They are responsible for some of the best things (in my book) in life…like cheese, beer, and wine. But when the wrong bacteria get into our food supply, the results can be disastrous.

Historically, testing for the presence of what is known as an indicator organism in our water and food supply, has played a significant role in the food industry. These levels are monitored as indicators of food quality, food safety, and a marker of the overall hygienic status of the production facility. E.coli, Coliforms, and Enterobacteriaceae are three indicators that have been, and are currently used in the industry.

In 1887 a well-known bacteriologist, Theodor Escherich, observed a pervasiveness of organisms now known as Esherichia in human stools. Later, E.coli and other organisms were used to indicate the potential presence of pathogens in water. In 1915, the U.S. Public Health service changed this standard indicator from E.coli to Coliforms. Using E.coli and Coliforms as indicators of water safety and quality eventually spread to testing for these organisms in other foods. First, pasteurized milk and dairy products were tested and then an array of other foods followed.

Continue reading

Tags: , , , , , , ,

What’s Known and What’s Left Genome…

ScienceThe University of California, Davis is nearly three years into taking on a big task: “sequencing the genomes of 100,000 bacteria and viruses that cause serious foodborne illnesses in people around the world.” The large undertaking is meant to provide some additional inroads into taking on food safety, using genetic material to track and understand pathogens in the food supply.

In a recent article, Marketwatch explains, the: “100K Foodborne Pathogen Genome Project” will result in a public database used “to help speed the identification of bacteria responsible for foodborne outbreaks and significantly reduce the typical public health response time to outbreaks from weeks to days using next-generation sequencing platforms.”

The director of the project, Professor Bart Weimer explains that the ability to sequence the genetic data of these disease-causing bacteria will provide information to help make “diagnostic tests quicker, more reliable, more accurate and more cost-effective.” Begun in 2012, the project is slated to last five years. For more insight on 100K Project, you can click here.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comments Off on What’s Known and What’s Left Genome…