Rapid microbiological methods in meat and meat products

Modern analytical techniques have to provide accurate results in time to permit forward approaches for controlling the microbiological quality of foods. Although the classical microbiological procedures of counting and identification of micro-organisms have been automated, several techniques with quite different principles are now used. The quantification of the microbial load of meat samples can be done in 4-24 hr with methods involving the growth of micro-organisms in liquid media (impedance and turbidimetric methods) and in less than 2 hr with methods counting stained microbial cells or detecting components of microbial cells. Rapid detection of undesirable (pathogens or spoilers) micro-organisms in meat samples can be done with immunological and DNA-based methods. The main techniques which can be used for the microbiological quantification and identification in the meat industries, as well as their applications are reviewed. Possibilities for rapid typing of bacterial isolates are also presented. Finally, some future trends in the microbiological analysis of foods are discussed.