Microbiological Testing
Certain pathogens present in a food product or on surfaces they came in contact can cause serious illness and identify that the product is unsafe for human consumption. This may occur at extremely low levels of 10 to 50 bacteria cells per sample. It is therefore, vital that pathogen testing occur in a frequent, representative, and meaningful manner to ensure the safety of your product and the health of your customers.
Qualitative Pathogen Analyses
We take the business of preventing and limiting food-borne illness to the greatest extent possible very seriously. Our state-of-the-art BAX-PCR system allow us to detect the DNA of even one pathogenic cell present in a sample (food or swab) you provide to us for testing. Those rapid detection PCR-tests are available for three main pathogens (Listeria, Salmonella and E. coli O157/H7) that have been responsible for most hospitalizations and death in Canada and the US in recent years. We provide quick turnaround time of 2-3 days for those pathogens; however, positive results have to be confirm using conventional quantitative culture methods that require more time.
- Listeria spp. (food or swab) via BAX- PCR
- Salmonella (food and swab) via BAX- PCR
- E. coli O157:H7(food) via BAX- PCR
Quantitative Plate Count Analyses
Traditional Quantitative microbiology testing is used in a variety of ways and can serve a variety of purposes, such as quantifying the amounts of pathogens, spoilage organisms, and harmless, normal flora organisms present in a product to determine the quality and/or safety of a product. It can also be used to confirm for the presence of pathogens detected using qualitative PCR testing.
Additionally, quantitative microbiology is used in determining baseline data. Determining the levels of certain groups of bacteria in your product over many production dates will produce invaluable data which may be evaluated statistically to determine pass/fail limits for these groups of bacteria for which all future batches of product may be compared.
Conducting this type of testing at a frequency which is appropriate to your production schedule will give you confidence in batches which meet the standard and produce a red flag when they do not.
Below are the quantitative methods we provide and the different links to each: