A Look at the American Proficiency Institute and
Pathogen Detection in Food Microbiology
 A recent study published
by the American Proficiency Institute (API), one of
the largest proficiency testing providers in the
world, has provided a new perspective on some of the
troubles facing the Food Quality Industry. The
objective of this study was to assess laboratories'
ability to detect or rule out contamination with
four common food pathogens: E. coli O157:H7,
Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and
Campylobacter spp. In the study API examined
qualitative proficiency data collected over a period
of eleven years. API found the average percentage of
false negative results was consistently above 5.0%
for all four pathogens throughout the study period,
Campylobacter spp. being the most likely to be
missed. These results suggest that food testing
laboratories often fail to detect the presence of
these pathogens in real food specimens.
We had the privilege of
speaking with Daniel Edson M.S., MT(ASCP), President
of API and one of the authors of this study, to gain
some insight regarding their findings and how this
information can be used to identify opportunities
for improvements within the Food Quality Industry.
read full article > |
Coming Soon – EZ-Accu Shot™
Select
Look for a new version of EZ-Accu Shot™ from Microbiologics® to hit the market soon! This new version of EZ-Accu Shot™, called
EZ-Accu Shot™ Select, will contain five compendial strains for Growth Promotion Testing in the Pharmaceutical industry all conveniently packaged in one container.
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Meet the Microbiologics®
Team
Microbiologics Shipping Team
– From Left to Right: Jodi Corrigan, Shelly
Lovell, Kathy Waninger, Nicole Hiemenz
The Microbiologics Shipping Department is
responsible for accurately and efficiently packaging
sets, fulfilling orders and processing shipments to
more than 120 countries throughout the world. They
also manage inventory control.
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WowThat'sAReallyBigWord!
The names of some bacteria can be quite a mouthful, but don't worry because the folks at Hipposoft have got your back! They've created an iPhone App called "Medical Microbiology Pronunciation" which gives you accurate pronunciations of virtually all medically important bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses! The App is available on the iPhone App Store,
click here to check it out.
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Food Safety Bills
in Congress
Are
you tracking the Food Safety Bills currently in
Congress?
Here are some websites we found that will
help you stay informed.
1. Library of
Congress – THOMAS
2. OpenCongress
3. GovTrack
4.
FoodSafetyNews.com
5.
USDA – Food Safety
Inspection Service |
Got Mycoplasmas?
 We do! Microbiologics sells Ureaplasma parvum and several other species of
Mycoplasma. Ureaplasmas and Mycoplasmas are members of the class
Mollicutes. Mollicutes are unusual because they do not have a cell wall. Many species are so small that their colonies can only be seen with a microscope. Mycoplasmas and Ureaplasmas are of interest to the clinical laboratory because some species can cause infection. Mycoplasmas are of interest to the pharmaceutical laboratory because they can contaminate cell and tissue cultures.
Click here to view a list of
Mollicutes available from Microbiologics.
Ureaplasmas and Mycoplasmas have stringent growth requirements. For example,
Mycoplasma pneumoniae must be grown first in SP4 broth. When the pink broth turns yellow, an aliquot is transferred to SP4 agar. For more information, check out the
Growth Requirements Technical Bulletin.
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Walking Bacteria
 UCLA researchers have found that during the first stages of biofilm formation,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa can "walk" and detach themselves from surfaces by turning upright and using appendages called type IV pili.
Dr. Gerard Wong, a professor at UCLA says, "Bacteria in biofilms are phenotypically different from free-swimming bacteria even though they are genomically identical. As part of their adaptation to a surface and to the existence of a community, different genes are turned up and down for bacteria in biofilms, leading to drastically different behavior." The study, titled "Bacteria
Use Type IV Pili to Walk Upright and Detach from
Surfaces", was published in the October 8, 2010 issue of
Science Magazine.
Click here to read an article about the study from the UCLA Newsroom. |
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What's Buggin' You? |
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Q. I am
having a hard time finding an E. coli that will
grow in a water bath set at 44.5 degrees. Do you have one I could use as a
control for my water test?
A. We have several
strains of E. coli that you can use for water
testing. They are catalog numbers 0422, 0483, 0495 and 0791. Our technical bulletin titled Selection of Water
Quality Control Microorganism Challenges features a complete
list of microorganism commonly targeted in water testing
methods.
Submit your questions to Microbiologics and we will follow up with you personally.
Your question may be featured in a future edition of
Microbiologics
Magnified.
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Need a
Break? |
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Click here to try our Matching Challenge and
match the vector (or carrier) and pathogen to the
disease.
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Visit Us
at These Upcoming Events |
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December 7 – 8, 2010
Camelback Inn, JW Marriott Resort & Spa
Scottsdale, Arizona
January 24 – 27, 2011
Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Stanley's
Helpful Hints |
 Looking
for an anaerobe that is thermotolerant?
Microbiologics
sells a microorganism named Thermoanaerobacterium
thermosaccharolyticum, Microbiologics Catalog # 0728. It
is best grown in cooked meat broth at 45°C for 72 hours.
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Microbiologics News & Developments |
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New
Products! |
We are always adding additional stains to our product lines! Below is a list of our most popular new items.
Click here to view a complete list of new products available from Microbiologics.
- Coming in early 2011, Vitek® 2; CBC
Comprehensive QC Set, Microbiologics Catalog # 5209: For quality control of the Vitek® 2 CBC card
for identification of Corynebacterium.
- Salmonella enterica subsp. diarizonae, ATCC® 29934™*, Microbiologics Catalog # 01045: Lactose-positive, H
2S-negative Salmonella.
Coming in early 2011, Clostridium difficile, ATCC® BAA-1870™*, Microbiologics Catalog # 01048: Toxinotype 111, Binary toxin positive.
Candida tropicalis, ATCC® 1369™*, Microbiologics Catalog # 01036: For quality control of CHROMagar™.
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