Purpose: The purpose of the evaluation was to proactively evaluate the performance of OMA 990.12 method (3M™ Aerobic Plate Count) and the AOAC-RI PTM 011001 method (NeoFilm®for Aerobic Count) against the FDA BAM Chapter 3 reference method on a variety of low moisture, soy ingredients: Isolated Soy Protein (ISP), Soy Fiber (SF), Soy Fluid Lecithin (SFL), Soy Deoiled Lecithin (DL), and Soy Nugget (SN).
Introduction: Aerobic Plate Count (APC) testing has been an industry standard for the examination of background flora in a variety of foods to gauge sanitary quality. Alternative examination methods for APC have been developed to save space and cost for food producers. However, there is limited validation information available for these rapid methods with soy ingredients. There is great need to evaluate soy ingredients for use with these alternative methods.
Purpose: The purpose of the evaluation was to proactively evaluate the performance of OMA 990.12 method (3M™ Aerobic Plate Count) and the AOAC-RI PTM 011001 method (NeoFilm®for Aerobic Count) against the FDA BAM Chapter 3 reference method on a variety of low moisture, soy ingredients: Isolated Soy Protein (ISP), Soy Fiber (SF), Soy Fluid Lecithin (SFL), Soy Deoiled Lecithin (DL), and Soy Nugget (SN).
Methods: For each method, fifteen 25-g replicates, were analyzed at three separate inoculation level(10 – 100 CFU/g, 100 – 1,000 CFU/g and 1,000 – 10,000 CFU/g) using a cocktail of common aerobic bacteria. Three control replicates were analyzed at 0 CFU/test portion. All candidate method plates were incubated at 35 ± 1°C for 48 ± 2 hours and enumerated.
Results: The results of the statistical analysis using the difference of means calculated with 95% confidence intervals indicated no statistical difference between the rapid methods and the reference method with one exception. The low level for the Soy Nugget using the AOAC-RI PTM 011001 method produced statistical differences when compared to the reference method.
Significance: These studies indicate that the alternative enumeration methods perform equally or better than the standard reference method for the five low moisture soy products evaluated. The alternative methods reduce bench space, incubator space and storage space when compared with the standard reference method saving both time and money.
Methods: For each method, fifteen 25g replicates, were analyzed at three separate inoculation level(10-100CFU/g, 100-1000CFU/g and 1000-10000 CFU/g) using a cocktail of common aerobic bacteria. Three control replicates were analyzed at 0 CFU/test portion. All candidate method plates were incubated at 35 ± 1 oC for 48±2 hours and enumerated.
Results: The results of the statistical analysis using the difference of means calculated with 95% confidence intervals indicated no statistical difference between the rapid methods and the reference method with one exception. The low level for the Soy Nugget using the AOAC-RI PTM 011001 method produced statistical differences when compared to the reference method.
Significance: These studies indicate that the alternative enumeration methods perform equally or better than the standard reference method for the five low moisture soy products evaluated. The alternative methods reduce bench space, incubator space and storage space when compared with the standard reference method saving both time and money.