RE: Sanitation Standards/ Swab Counts of Surfaces

From: Douglas L. Marshall (microman@ra.msstate.edu)
Date: Sun Apr 04 2004 - 10:20:09 PDT

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    Hi George,

    Usually inoculated swabs are placed in a transport medium (around 5 mL) and
    the count is made from this medium. The count is then reported as cfu/ml of
    medium. Details of a standard method can be found here: Evancho, G.M.,
    Svenum, W.H., Moberg, L.J., and Frank, J.F. 2001. Microbiological
    monitoring of the food processing environment. In, P.F. Downes and K. Ito
    (Eds), Compendium of Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods,
    4th Ed. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC, pp. 25-35.

    Regards,

    Doug
    ********************************************
    Douglas L. Marshall, Ph.D.
    Professor, Mississippi State University
      http://www.msstate.edu/dept/fst
    Contributing Editor, Food Microbiology
      http://www.foodscience.elsevier.com
    Department of Food Science & Technology
    Room 110 Herzer, Stone Blvd (courier)
    Box 9805 (mail)
    Mississippi State, MS 39762-9805 USA
    Ph 1-662-325-8722
    Fax 1-662-325-8728
    ********************************************

    -----Original Message-----
    From: owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-seafood@ucdavis.edu]On
    Behalf Of George Chang
    Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 4:52 PM
    To: seafood@ucdavis.edu
    Subject: Sanitation Standards/ Swab Counts of Surfaces

    Hi Everyone,

            Could someone help my former student? She is working on a
    Master's of Public Health, and one of her many projects involves a
    school kitchen. She asked me about interpreting some data, and my
    first thought was, "I'm just an academic! I don't know anything
    about real world surfaces!" But my next thought was, "I'd better get
    some reliable help! Then I can learn something!"

            How would you answer her question?

    Thanks!
    George Chang
    Univ of Calif, Berkeley
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ---------------

    >I have taken some swab samples to measure coliform count, and yeast & mold
    count in the communal kitchens at the school dorm but have no idea how to
    interpret the results. The microbiology lab gave the results back in three
    categories: coliform count swab, standard plate count swab, and yeast & mold
    count per swab. I have searched around for a standard guideline but can't
    seem to find one. I wish there is a similar text like the standard methods
    for the examination of water and wastewater we used a few years back. Do you
    know if there is such a thing in the food sanitation industry? Please let me
    know.



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