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FOOD MICROBIOLOGICAL TESTING
Quality Indicators, Spoilage Testing, and Microbial Enumeration
Microorganisms can affect product quality, consistency, process performance, and shelf life before a problem becomes visible.
Biotrax provides third-party food microbiology testing for raw materials, ingredients, in-process samples, and finished food and beverage products. Testing can help establish microbial baselines, evaluate specifications, compare batches or suppliers, investigate quality concerns, and monitor changes over time.
Not sure which microbial analysis to request? Tell us what you are testing and what you need to learn. Our team can help clarify the available options, sample requirements, and an appropriate place to begin.
WHEN MICROBIOLOGICAL TESTING MAY HELP
Food microbiological testing may be useful when your team needs to:
- Evaluate whether an ingredient or product meets a microbial specification
- Compare results between suppliers, batches, or production dates
- Investigate spoilage, off-odors, fermentation, gas, or package swelling
- Monitor microbial changes during processing or storage
- Establish baseline data for a new product or quality program
- Support product-release or shelf-life decisions
- Review an unexpected result or recurring trend
The appropriate test depends on the product, production stage, specification, and question your team is trying to answer.
AUTOMATED ENUMERATION WITH BIOMÉRIEUX TEMPO
Many of Biotrax’s quantitative microbiological analyses are performed using the bioMérieux TEMPO system.
TEMPO is an automated microbial enumeration platform based on the traditional Most Probable Number approach. Prepared samples are combined with test-specific media, loaded into sealed testing cards, incubated, and read automatically to estimate the concentration of viable microorganisms present.
This automated approach supports standardized processing, consistent calculations, and laboratory traceability for routine food-quality and hygiene-indicator testing.
Traditional cultural and plate-count methods may also be used when required by the product, customer specification, reference method, or testing objective.
What does "enumeration" mean?
Enumeration is a quantitative test that estimates how many microorganisms are present. It differs from a presence-or-absence test, which reports whether a specific target was detected in the tested portion.
WHEN A TRADITIONAL PLATE COUNT MAY BE NEEDED
Biotrax also offers applicable traditional cultural and plating methods.
Plate-count methods grow microorganisms on agar so colonies can be counted or isolated.
They may be appropriate when:
- A customer or program requires an FDA BAM method
- A reference cultural method is specified
- A product requires different growth conditions
- An investigation requires colony isolation
- Anaerobic microbial growth is a concern
- The product matrix is not suited to the automated method
Available options may include aerobic plate count, yeast and mold plate count, coliform and generic E. coli counts, Staphylococcus aureus count, and anaerobic plate count.
If you have a specific microogranism you're looking for that needs plating reach out to our team for additional infromation.
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