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FOOD MICROBIOLOGY
Read articles about food microbiology from Microbiologics’ experts and other field experts.
Dear Stanley: Differences Between Atmospheres for Microorganism Growth
Dear Stanley, I want to make sure I’m using the right atmosphere to get good growth of my microorganisms. Can you explain the differences between aerobic, anaerobic, microaerophilic, and capnophilic atmospheres for microorganism growth? Beth from Salt Lake City, UT...
How Food Labs Protect Consumers from STECs
The ongoing Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, Arizona, region has captured the attention of food manufacturers, retailers, and consumers throughout the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and...
Relax During #LabWeek with These 9 Stress Relievers
You love being a microbiologist. Your passion for understanding microorganisms and the impact they have on every aspect of life fuels your long days in the lab. We know all too well that a busy lab and finicky microorganisms can leave even the most seasoned...
11 Pour Plate Method Best Practices
The pour plate method is an economical way for pharmaceutical, contract and even food laboratories to perform tests focused on a specific number of bacteria. The process may seem simple (melt, pipette, pour, swirl, incubate), but errors have been known to occur....
7 Rules to Follow When Writing about Microorganisms
Recalling and pronouncing peculiar microorganism names is a skill every microbiologist has mastered. However, the intricate rules for writing about microorganisms may leave even experienced microbiologists second-guessing how to annotate or spell a strain name. Our...
On the Plate: Salmonella
After Escherichia coli, Salmonella might be one of the world’s most recognized bacterial species. Outbreaks of Salmonella have occurred in several food products including the well-known peanut butter outbreak in 2009 in which 714 people in 46 states became ill and 9...
5 Reasons to Avoid Maintaining Stock Cultures in Your Lab
Are you certain the reference stock cultures you use for quality control are identical to the reference cultures you originally purchased? A study performed by Cross, Russel and Desai examined working cultures from eight accredited microbial testing...
Our Top Posts from 2017
To say our writers were busy in 2017 is an understatement. We shared best practices for growth promotion testing on selective media, asked for your opinion on B. cepacia testing, and reminded you why microbiologists are the coolest people in the lab. Stanley...
Environmental Isolate Case File: Cronobacter sakazakii
Cronobacter sakazakii, formerly Enterobacter sakazakii, is a gram-negative bacterium that belongs to the Enterbacteriaceae family. It is found in the environment, commonly on plant and organic materials, and can survive very dry conditions. The bacterium has been...
8 Microorganisms that Changed the World
Photo: 1918 flu ward at Camp Funston, Kansas (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Microorganisms triggered many events that drastically altered human history. The most notorious microbes caused mass death and destruction, but they also inspired modern medical advances often...