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Effect of Pyruvate on Recovery of Fungi from Foods

John A Koburger1

  • 1Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611.

Journal of Food Protection
|April 10, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Adding sodium pyruvate to growth media significantly boosted fungal recovery from food samples. This method improved the detection of both yeasts and molds in microbiological testing.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Food Science
  • Mycology

Background:

  • Accurate fungal enumeration in food is crucial for safety and quality assessment.
  • Standard microbiological methods may have limitations in recovering all fungal species.
  • Plate count agar is a common medium for microbial analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of sodium pyruvate on fungal recovery from food samples.
  • To determine if pyruvate enhances the growth of yeasts and molds on selective media.

Main Methods:

  • Plate count agar supplemented with 0.5% sodium pyruvate was used.
  • Antibiotics were included in the agar to inhibit bacterial growth.
  • Fifty diverse food samples were analyzed for fungal content.

Main Results:

  • Supplementation with 0.5% sodium pyruvate significantly increased fungal recovery.
  • Both yeasts and molds showed improved recovery rates.
  • An overall increase in fungal recovery of 8.0% was observed.

Conclusions:

  • Sodium pyruvate is a beneficial additive for antibiotic-supplemented plate count agar.
  • Pyruvate enhances the recovery of fungi, including yeasts and molds, from food matrices.
  • This optimization can improve the accuracy of fungal quantification in food microbiology.

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