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Escherichia coli is an important indicator microorganism for monitoring food safety and food quality (Feng and Hartman, 1982; Sharpe et al., 1983). E. coli counts are routinely monitored as indicators of pathogenic bacterial contamination (Jay, 1992). Regulations promulgated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommend E. coli analysis as an indicator of microbial safety. E. coli monitoring can be useful in reducing the chances of releasing unsafe food to the public. Most food processors have recently incorporated routine E. coli screening of their products and would welcome a more rapid method. Even though E. coli numbers do not directly indicate levels of pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, the rapid monitoring of an important indicator microorganism (E. coli) is very critical. <P>
Major tasks in the project include: <OL> <LI> Optimize the cultivation liquid medium for E. coli in foods. <LI> Design and test a combined cultivation system for monitoring fluorescence production by E. coli. <LI> Establish the correlation between fluorescence production and the numbers of E. coli in foods. <LI> Develop an automatic system for monitoring fluorescence production to estimate E. coli numbers.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The proposed project will develop a rapid, simple, and economical method for detection of E. coli in foods. These developed rapid methods can save time, energy, and cost for detection food safety indicating microorganisms.
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APPROACH: The goal of this project will be reached by designing the optimized cultivation conditions with fluorescence detector to measure the fluorescence production by E. coli in foods.