Exp 1-Aerobic Plate Count
Exp 1-Aerobic Plate Count
Exp 1-Aerobic Plate Count
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Contents
1.0 ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................3
1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................................................................6
1.3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................8
1.4 RESULTS & DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................................9
1.5 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................12
1.6 RECOMMENDATIONS .....................................................................................................................................12
1.7 REFERRENCE ...................................................................................................................................................13
1.8 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................................................14
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1.0 ABSTRACT
This experiment was conducted to analyze the aerobic plate counts (APCs) for fresh and
spoiled food and to study the aerobic plate count mechanism and important. This
experiment was conducted firstly by preparing the sample of food and then the food is
being smeared on an agar medium inside a petri dish and then being kept in an incubator
shaker for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the sample of the product being analyze using colony
counter devices. The result shows that, the spoiled for recorded high value of APCs while
fresh food show small value of APCs. This means that, the spoilage occurs on the spoiled
food while fresh food also presents small amount of microorganism in it. Aerobic plate
count is one of the enumeration technique used in microbiology to count the
microorganism in foods sample but the question is, is it enough just by using number to
determine the quality of food, is it can be applied on all system.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Bacteria, yeasts, molds and viruses are the tiniest living things on earth that was termed as
microorganism. There are thousands of species of bacteria, but all are single-celled and fall into
three basic shapes: spherical, straight rods, and spiral rods. Bacteria are the most important
microorganisms to the food processing. Most are harmless, many are highly beneficial, some
indicate the probable presence of filth, disease organisms, spoilage and a few cause diseases.
Yeasts are oval-shaped and slightly larger than bacteria. They reproduce most often by budding.
In budding each cell can produce several buds, or swellings, which break away to form new, fully
formed daughter cells while Molds as found on bread, fruit, damp paper, or other surfaces are
actually composed of millions of microscopic cells joined together to form chains. The chains
usually have numerous branches, called hyphae. Molds can thrive in conditions too adverse for
bacteria or yeasts. They reproduce by spores that are frequently present as green or black masses
on the protruding hyphae.
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Food industry frequently being hit by simple spoilage caused by these microorganism,
especially bacteria, yeasts and molds. This microorganism can infect all sorts types of food such
as dry food, fermented food, pickled food and refrigerated food. There are many foodborne
diseases caused by colonies of this bacteria such as Escherichia Coli, Salmonella and
Staphylococcus Aureus. This can lead to many health problems.
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There are a lot of methods can be used to determine the amount of colony that exists in a
food sample, whether by qualitative or by quantitative analysis. Redigel, petrifilm, spiral plate
system, isogrid and aerobic plate count, this is all the technique that can be used to determine the
number of bacteria colonies in selected food.
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Isogrid Aerobic plate count
This experiment was conducted to determine the bacteria colony that presence on fresh
food and spoiled food. Aerobic plate count (APC) is the colony counting technique used in this
experiment. The aerobic plate count (APC) measures only that fraction of the bacterial flora that
is able to grow to visible colonies under the arbitrary test conditions provided in the time period
allowed. It does not measure the total bacterial population in a food sample, but is the best estimate.
Depending on the circumstances, a high APC may indicate that a food has been grossly mishandled
or that it contains a poor-quality ingredient. Interpretation depends on knowing what the normal
APC is for each food.
The purpose of this experiment is to have a rough estimation on food quality because in
industrial application this analysis is important for the food processing unit so that they will supply
the best food to the customer because there are many cases related to foodborne diseases outbreak
related to this microorganism.
As we know aerobic plate count is one of the microorganism colonies counting methods.
First, the ranges in common acceptance for countable numbers of colonies on plate are 30-300 and
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25-250. Breed and Dotterrer published a seminal paper on this topic in 1916. They set out to
determine the limit in number of colonies that may be allowed to grow on plate without introducing
serious errors in connection with the proposed revisions of standard methods of milk analysis.
They point out that the kind of bacteria in the material under examination will have an influence
on the size of colonies, and consequently, on the number that can develop on a plate..
Other than that, a research has been conducted to compare the enumeration technique The
numbers of aerobic bacteria from chicken, ground beef, ground pork, shelled pecan, raw milk,
thyme, and flour (20 samples from each food) were determined by four alternative viable cell count
methods (Redigel, Petrifilm, Spiral Plate System, and Isogrid) to ascertain the effectiveness of
these methods in providing viable cell counts compared with the widely used Aerobic Plate Count
(APC) method. The results indicated that all five methods were highly comparable (r=0.97 and
higher, with the exception of Petrifilm versus Spiral Plate System, which was 0.88) and exhibited
a high degree of accuracy and agreement. Thus, the four alternative methods were found to provide
accurate aerobic bacterial counts of foods compared with the APC method.
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1.3 METHODOLOGY
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1.4 RESULTS & DISCUSSION
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This experiment was conducted to determine the colonies of the microorganism presents
in food samples by using the aerobic plate count method. Based on result tabulated in table
1.4.1, it shows that Grapes shows 5 colonies for fresh one while 55 represents the spoiled one.
Besides that, Bread record 10 count for fresh one and 59 for spoiled one. Therefore, it can be
said that fresh grape is still good because of its low count of APC and recorded high count for
spoiled grape that represents it has been totally unsafe to be consumed. Furthermore, bread
shows the same pattern but a slightly higher than grape for both spoiled and fresh ones. The fresh
food still recorded some value maybe due to lack of proper sanitation and due to it was taken
from the same sources so the food has already been infected with the microorganism as in the
spoiled one. However, we cannot directly say that the low value of APC means pathogen free
because APC is a poor indicator of safety in most instances, since they do not directly correlate
to the presence of pathogens or toxins. However, some products or ingredients showing
excessively or unusually high APCs may reasonably be assumed to be potential health hazards,
pending pathogen screening results. However, some products or ingredients showing excessively
or unusually high APCs may reasonably be assumed to be potential health hazards.
APC can be used to gauge sanitary quality, organoleptic acceptability, adherence to good
manufacturing practices, and to a lesser extent, as an indicator of safety. APC may also provide
information regarding shelf life or impending organoleptic change in a food.
Interpretation of the APC results must take into consideration knowledge of the product and
whether a high APC is expected.
Depending on the situation, APC can be valuable in evaluating food quality. Large numbers of
bacteria may be an indication may be an indication of poor sanitation or problems with process
control or ingredients. Certain products, such as those produced through fermentation, naturally
have a high APC. Again, low APC numbers do not equate to an absence of pathogens. Often, it
is necessary to assay foods for specific pathogens or spoilage organisms before ruling on food
safety or food quality.
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Quality and safety guidelines or specifications are often applied to raw materials and finished
goods. Using APC for ingredients may or may not be appropriate as a quality indicator. A food
manufacturers decision to apply APC guidelines on ingredients must be based on the
ingredients effect on the finished product. For instance, in dried foods, APC can be used as a
means of assessing the adequacy of moisture control during the drying process. For meats, APC
can be used to check to the condition of incoming carcasses to potentially identify suppliers who
prove those with excessively high counts. APC can also be used to evaluate sanitary conditions
of equipment and utensils. This can be done during processing to monitor buildup and after
sanitation to gauge its effectiveness.
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1.5 CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, aerobic plate count is a good mechanism to detect poor sanitation, spoilage
and quality control. A high APCs shows that it contains high colonies of microorganism but it
depends on situation of what kind of food, what is the process (eg: fermentation that usually
contains high APCs) and what the raw material and end product of the foods. From this
experiment it can be said that the spoiled food shows high APCs value that represents the
spoilage of food has occurred while the fresh food still collects some value of APCs maybe due
to lack of proper sanitation while conducting the experiment and due to the food sample is taken
from the sample sources so the fresh one may be already infected by those microorganism as in
the spoiled food.
1.6 RECOMMENDATIONS
Always wear gloves throughout the experiment to make sure that the food sample is not
affected by germs already on the palms of the hands to preserve the aseptic technique.
If fresh food samples are in the form of any packaging such as plastics, tubes, box and
many more, only open the package right before the food sample needs to be tested.
Leaving the food sample exposed to the air for quite a long time can lead to
contamination of the food sample by bacteria of environment or air.
Always sanitise the gloves before starting the experiment to avoid any contamination.
Remember to heat the wire loop before dipping it onto the samples and washing it inside
clean water/distilled water after dipping onto the samples to sterile it.
Do not smear too much or a lot of layers of the food sample onto the agar in the petri dish
to not make the colony growth too much and makes it hard to be counted later.
Take ample time to count the colony using the colony counter to avoid any miscounts.
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1.7 REFERRENCE
The Journal of Applied Poultry Research, Volume 25, Issue 1, 1 March 2016, Pages 48
53
Tomasiewicz, D.M.et al. 1980. The Most Suitable Number of Colonies on Plates for
Counting. J Food Prot. 43(4):282-286
VICKI S. CHAIN and DANIEL Y.C. FUNG (1991) Comparison of Redigel, Petrifilm,
Spiral Plate System, Isogrid, and Aerobic Plate Count for Determining the Numbers of
Aerobic Bacteria in Selected Foods. Journal of Food Protection: March 1991, Vol. 54, No.
3, pp. 208-211.
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1.8 APPENDICES
Figure 1.8.3: Spoiled Food Figure 1.8.4: Agar medium on a petri dish
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Figure 1.8.6: Incubator Shaker
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