Comparison of an Automated Most-Probable-Number Technique with Traditional Plating Methods for Estimating Populations of Total Aerobes, Coliforms, and Escherichia coli Associated with Freshly Processed Broiler Chickens

Abstract

An instrument (TEMPO) has been developed to automate the most-probable-number (MPN) technique and reduce the effort required to estimate some bacterial populations. We compared the automated MPN technique with traditional microbiological plating methods and Petrifilm methods for estimating the total viable count of aerobic microorganisms (TVC), total coliforms (CC), and Escherichia coli populations (EC) on freshly processed broiler chicken carcasses (postchill whole carcass rinse [WCR] samples) and cumulative drip-line samples from a commercial broiler processing facility. Overall, 120 broiler carcasses, 36 prechill drip-line samples, and 40 postchill drip-line samples were collected over 5 days (representing five individual flocks) and analyzed by the automated MPN and direct agar plating and Petrifilm methods. The TVC correlation coefficient between the automated MPN and traditional methods was very high (0.972) for the prechill drip samples, which had mean log-transformed values of 3.09 and 3.02, respectively. The TVC correlation coefficient was lower (0.710) for the postchill WCR samples, which had lower mean log values of 1.53 and 1.31, respectively. Correlations between the methods for the prechill CC and EC samples were 0.812 and 0.880, respectively. The estimated number of total aerobes was generally greater than the total number of coliforms or E. coli recovered for all sample types (P < 2e⁻¹⁶). Significantly more bacteria were recovered from the prechill samples than from the postchill WCR or cumulative drip samples (P < 9.5e⁻¹² and P < 2e⁻¹⁶, respectively). When samples below the limit of detection were excluded, 92.1% of the total responses were within a single log difference between the traditional plating or Petrifilm methods and the automated MPN method.

Evaluation of the Tempo® System: Improving the Microbiological Quality Monitoring of Human Milk

“…Indeed, all TEMPO ® bacterial tests have been approved by international quality and standards organizations, such as AOAC International, AFNOR and ISO for food and environmental samples [35][36][37][38]. Evaluations of the performances of the TEMPO ® MPN method for the characterization of bacterial content in food products, including dairy milk, have been reported [39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. Most of them have demonstrated a good agreement in the results between the plate count method and TEMPO ® for all types of targeted bacteria.…”

Comparison of conventional and rapid methods for determination of total aerobic mesophilic microorganisms and Enterobacteriaceae in poultry products

“…The mean values of samples analyzed according to TEMPO TVC and the conventional ISO 4833:2003 methods were found to be 3.97 log cfu/g and 3.95 log cfu/g respectively. In a study conducted by Line et al (15), a number of 120 samples of chicken raw carcass from production line before, and after freezing process were analyzed by using TEMPO TVC and the conventional microbial colony enumeration methods. It was found that the mean values obtained by both methods were 3.09 log cfu/g and 3.02 log cfu/g before freezing, whereas they were 1.53 log cfu/g and 1.31 log cfu/g after freezing, respectively.…”

“…Linear regression and Pearson correlation analyses were performed in order to measure the compliance levels of both methods. In a study conducted by Line et al (15) involving a number of 120 samples of chicken raw carcass from production line before and after freezing process, the carcass samples before freezing were analyzed according to TEMPO TVC and the conventional microbial colony count methods, and a high correlation coefficient of 0.972 was found. However, when using the samples after freezing, the correlation coefficient was found to be 0.710 between TEMPO TVC and the conventional rapid test methods.…”

Correlation Between Chronic Treatment With Proton Pump Inhibitors and Bacterial Overgrowth in the Stomach

“…37 Total coliforms were selectively counted on Petrifilm CC [3 M, Segrate (MI), Italy], 38 whereas SRB were enumerated using tryptose-sulfitecycloserine (Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy). 39 All plates seeded with lactobacilli were incubated for 48 to 72 hours at 371C under anaerobic conditions (GasPak system) with Anaerocult A kits (Merck Millipore, Darmstadt, Germany), whereas LAPTg plates were incubated in aerobic conditions for 24 to 48 hours at 371C.…”