Study: Comparison of MC-Media Pad^® with Different Convenience Solution Products

Comparison of Different Convenience Solution Products for Indicator Organism Testing in Food and Beverage Samples

The MC-Media Pad^® is a convenient method for the rapid routine testing of microbial contamination of raw and in-process food and beverage materials, and finished products.
The MC-Media Pad^® solution is composed of a series of ready-to-use pads for total count and specific detection and enumeration of indicator organisms.

Each MC-Media Pad^® comprises a fabric pad coated with a dedicated culture media formulation, placed on an adhesive support and covered with a transparent gas permeable lid.

The MC-Media Pad^® solution has been specifically developed for the testing of 1 mL food samples.

The performance of the following MC-Media Pad^® tests was challenged with 3 comparable convenient testing products (Product A, Product B and Product C) in the market:

MC-Media Pad^® Rapid Aerobic Count, MC-Media Pad^® Coliform, MC-Media Pad^® E. coli / Coliform, MC-Media Pad^® Yeast / Mold.

Method

Food and Beverage Matrix Selection

Four challenging food and beverage products were tested: dried soup, cola, chocolate pudding and mozzarella purchased at a local store were selected to cover 4 different food product families.

Sample Preparation

Portions of 10 g or 10 mL of each food sample were added to a stomacher bag or blender cup. 90 mL of diluents (sterile 0.9% NaCl-solution (sodium chloride - 1.06400.1000)) were then also added to the homogenizer bag or blender cup and stomached or homogenized for 2 mins (Enrichment Sample Homogenizer ESH - 5.42765.0001). Each sample homogenate was then inoculated with 20 to 80 CFUs of a mixture of Escherichia coli ATCC^® 25922, or Salmonella typhimurium ATCC^® 14028 for MC-Media Pad^® Rapid Aerobic Count, MC-Media Pad^® Coliform, MC-Media Pad^® E. coli / Coliform, or with Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC^® 9763 and Mucor racemosus ATCC^® 42647 for MC-Media Pad^® Yeast / Mold.

MC-Media Pad^® Protocol and Competitor Product Protocol

Other products have been tested according to the procedures described in the individual package inserts.

Result Interpretation

Each test was performed in triplicate, and recovery calculated as a percentage versus control plates: TSA (146431) for MC-Media Pad^® Rapid Aerobic Count, MC-Media Pad^® Coliform, MC-Media Pad^® E. coli / Coliform and SDA (146236) for MC-Media Pad^® Yeast / Mold.

Results

Figure 1. Chocolate Pudding

Figure 2. Dried Soup

Figure 3. Cola Results

Figure 4. Mozzarella Results

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that MC-Media Pad^® tests can be used to detect and easily enumerate indicator organism contamination in a broad range of food and beverage matrices showing a growth performance equivalent or better to other convenient solutions in the market. In addition to the comparable performance, MC-Media Pad^® tests provide some benefits over existing products in terms of color-coding, handling, time to results for yeast & molds, and improved read-out using chromogenic substance to allow fast and convenient detection of microbial contamination.