"The MicroFoss™ technology is a very simple but powerful technology for the assessment of the microbiological quality of meats."
Joseph Odumeru, Ph.D., Research Coordinator, Food Microbiology Supervisor Laboratory Services Division, Adjunct Professor, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Canada.
Two staff were dedicated to the validation study and one of the two staff had experience in the past with similar systems such as the impedance based detection systems. The following is our comments regarding the MicroFoss system:
"The MicroFoss technology is a very simple but powerful technology for the assessment of the microbiological quality of meats. Our experience with the system during the current validation study has been positive in that we are able to obtain excellent correlation between total viable counts and coliform counts with the detection times generated by the system".
"The MicroFoss software is very user friendly. We are able to navigate our way through the software applications very readily and pull up data for analysis during or after testing of samples. Tests can be monitored while testing is in progress. This is very important for QA labs involved in food quality and safety tests. It allows for appropriate actions to be taken when the microbial content of a test sample exceeds specified limits".
"Preparation of meat samples for analysis is very simple and straightforward, involving mainly weighing and dilution of the meat samples prior to inoculation of samples into the MicroFoss vials. The simplicity of sample preparation and testing procedures is one of the features of the MicroFoss technology that we are happy with".
"The MicroFoss instrument generates very smooth curves with clearly defined detection times at the base of the exponential curve. Each of the curves generated can be archived for further analysis or used for presentation of reports".
"As far as the reliability of the instrument is concerned, we have not experienced any instrument failure since we received the instrument as of the last week of January 2000".
"Our comments are based on our experience with the MicroFoss instrument. This system has a lot of potential for routine use in the food processing industry especially for coliform, TVC and E. coli meat quality tests and we are happy to continue our validation work on the instrument".
