Application of the Micro Biological Survey analytical method for the determination of bacterial load in cow raw milk

Alessandra Cornacchia; Maria Antonietta Saletti; Violeta Di Marzio; Romolo Salini; Cristina Marfoglia; Elga Tieri; Nicola D'Alterio; Nicla Marri; Francesca Losito; Alyexandra Arienzo; Lorenza Murgia; Giovanni Antonini; Simonetta Amatiste; Loris Leboffe; Francesco Pomilio

doi:10.4081/ijfs.2020.7696

Application of the Micro Biological Survey analytical method for the determination of bacterial load in cow raw milk

Ital J Food Saf. 2020 Nov 4;9(3):7696. doi: 10.4081/ijfs.2020.7696. eCollection 2020 Oct 16.

Authors

Alessandra Cornacchia¹, Maria Antonietta Saletti¹, Violeta Di Marzio¹, Romolo Salini¹, Cristina Marfoglia¹, Elga Tieri¹, Nicola D'Alterio¹, Nicla Marri², Francesca Losito³, Alyexandra Arienzo⁴, Lorenza Murgia⁴, Giovanni Antonini^{3

4}, Simonetta Amatiste², Loris Leboffe^{2

4}, Francesco Pomilio¹

Affiliations

¹ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise G. Caporale, Teramo.
² Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri, Rome.
³ Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi - Consorzio Interuniversitario, Rome.
⁴ Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome Italy.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of "Micro Biological Survey - MBS Test" in the enumeration of bacterial load in cow raw milk. The MBS test is based on a colorimetric method recently developed and patented by "Roma Tre" University, Italy. The evaluation of the performance of the MBS method was carried out by comparison with plate count at 30°C (gold standard) and flow cytometry. Thirteen independent set of experiments were performed analyzing a total of 104 samples of cow raw milk with the selected methods. Results obtained using the MBS method are comparable with those obtained with the plate count method at 30°C (CFU/mL) and flow cytometry technology; in particular, the results obtained with the MBS method are very close to plate count's at 30°C. On the other hand, there are statistically significant differences between these two methods' and flow cytometry technology's results that could be due to the different experimental conditions.

Keywords: Bactoscan FC; Cow raw milk; Flow citometry; MBS test; Plate count at 30°C (CFU/mL).

Grants and funding

Funding: This work has been partially supported by a Grant from Ministero della Salute of Italy to ll. Progetto ricerca finalizzata-giovani ricercatori 2011 (Development of a rapid, fast and low-cost analytical kit to evaluate quality and safety of milk and dairy products: GR- 2011-02348227).