New test for yeast, moulds is sensitive and fast, says firm

The France-based in vitro​ diagnostics firm said that its Tempo YM is highly sensitive and can deliver results in approximately 72 hours, half the time of most other methods, including the ISO reference technique, allowing food manufactures to determine their exact level of process contamination.

As a means of ensuring the consistent taste and quality of their products, food companies monitor yeast and mould levels to make sure that they fall within regulatory and factory limits prior to leaving the plant.

Although yeasts and moulds do not normally cause human illness, high levels may cause food products to spoil prematurely. This may cause the product to look, smell or taste bad, thus diminishing or damaging consumers’ perceptions of the brand.

Pascal Cruveiller, communications spokesperson for the diagnostics company, said the Tempo YM takes a 10ml or 10g of a food and juice sample, which is then diluted and homogenised, with 1ml of that mixture then used to perform the test.

Automation ​

He explained this latest test in the bioMérieux range uses the most probable number (MPN) method to calculate results, which facilitates its integration in both industrial and official laboratories.

“Through automation, the TEMPO takes an older, labour-intensive testing system for the enumeration of quality indicator organisms in food and environmental samples and standardizes numerous preparation steps, interpretation and test results. ​

“The rapid results achieved with automated systems allow the customer’s product to be released earlier,”​ said Cruveiller.

Food and drink applications​

He told FoodProductionDaily.com that the Tempo YM can be employed to record the quantity of yeast and moulds in confectionery, dairy and bakery products, as well as in fruit juices and dry raw materials.

Cruveiller added that with Tempo YM in its line up, bioMérieux can now provide a complete automated menu of routine testing for total viable counts, coliform counts, generic E. coli​, S. aureus,​ Enterobacteriaceae,​ lactic acid bacteria and yeasts and moulds.