Rapid Estimation of Microbial Numbers on Meat and Poultry by the Direct Epifluorescent Filter Technique

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Abstract
The direct epifluorescent filter technique (DEFT) for rapid estimation of microbial numbers was evaluated by comparison with the plate count on a variety of uncooked red meat and poultry samples. Good agreement [correlation coefficient (r) = 0.95–0.96] was obtained from samples with plate counts of 5 × 103/g or /cm2 and above from red meat carcasses (surface swabbed), aerobic or vacuum packed chill-stored joints (surface sampled - stomachered) and frozen beef (thawed stomachered). For stored and unstored raw poultry sampled by skin scraping or stomachering of muscle and skin good overall correlation (r = 0.88–0.89) was obtained between the DEFT count and the plate count in the ranges 1.1 × 103 to 1.3 × 107/cm2 (skin scraping) and 1 × 104 to 9.5 × 106/g (muscle and skin) even though the DEFT always overestimated counts on samples on which no growth had occurred (plate count <7×104/cm2 or <1×105/g). However, good linearity between DEFT and plate counts allowed use of the regression equation to obtain a good...

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