Analysis of bottled water for Escherichia coli and total coliforms

U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations governing bottled water include microbiological quality guidelines based on coliform counts. Recently, a new MF medium for simultaneous detection of total coliforms and Escherichia coli was developed. This medium, m-ColiBlue24 (m-CB) was compared to m-Endo medium and an International Organization for Standardization standard coliform medium, lactose agar with Tergitol 7. Coliform analysis was conducted on 104 brands of bottled water from 10 countries. Some samples were additionally analyzed for heterotrophic plate count on Pseudomonas sp. populations, including P. aeruginosa. Presumptive coliform colonies were found in 5.8% of the samples with m-CB, 1.9% with m-Endo and 11.5% with lactose agar with Tergitol 7. None of the presumptive coliforms from any of the three media were verified as true coliforms in subsequent analysis. Consequently, the presumptive recovery rates actually represented false-positive error (FPE) rates. The FPE for m-CB and m-Endo were not statistically different (P < 0.05) but the FPE for lactose agar with Tergitol 7 was significantly larger.