ABSTRACT
Microbial testing has been a concern since it was determined that microbes play an integral role in food quality and safety. One of the earliest volumes that discussed standardized testing methods was Food Adulteration and its Detection (1), which was followed by numerous other texts. Today many similar volumes are in use by a variety of regulatory agencies, industries and scientific groups. These include, but are not limited to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Bacterial Analytical Manual (BAM), U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Microbiological Laboratory Guidebook (MLG), AOAC’s Official Methods of Analysis and the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Compendium of Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods.
