Robert Mondavi Research Institute installs ProtoCOL colony counter
To speed up studies on the growth of bacterial pathogens in food
Synbiosis, a US manufacturer of automated microbiological systems, has installed a ProtoCOL automated colony counting system at the Robert Mondavi Research Institute, an American food and wine research centre, to speed up studies on the growth of a variety of bacterial pathogens in food.
Microbiologists in the Robert Mondavi Research Institute (RMI) at the University of California, Davis are using a ProtoCOL system to look for and count colonies of bacteria associated with food poisoning on a range of media and plate types. These pathogens include E.coli 0157 and Salmonella growing in nuts and fresh produce.
Using the ProtoCOL system, researchers at the RMI are able to monitor rapidly and accurately how pathogens can grow in different types of storage conditions. It is hoped this information will lead to a greater understanding of how to prevent outbreaks of food poisoning associated with these bacterial pathogens.
Dr Anne-Laure Moyne, staff research associate at the RMI, said: “We run trials looking at how storing products such as almonds, pistachios and lettuce can affect the growth of bacterial contaminants. During these trials, we can generate around 250 spiral, pour plates or gridded filters on plates every day, all of which have to be analysed. Doing this manually with a lightbox and pen meant our staff had to work very long days, so we knew we had to automate the process.”
The RMI tested two automated colony counters but found that because of the different lighting methods, only the ProtoCOL could recognise and count black Salmonella colonies when the BSA (bismuth sulphite agar) media they are growing on is green. The ProtoCOL could also count red colonies on red media and distinguish between grid lines and colonies more accurately than the other system.