Microbiology

Food safety and the preven­tion of micro­bi­o­log­ical cont­a­m­i­na­tion is a priority and a legisla­tive require­ment at all stages of food manu­fac­turing and supply chain.

Pathogen Testing

• Salmo­nella spp
• Listeria mono­cy­to­genes
• Listeria spp
• E.coli O157
• Campy­lobacter spp
• Vibrio spp

Rapid Testing (VIDAS)

• Salmo­nella spp
• Listeria mono­cy­to­genes
• Listeria spp

Enumer­a­tion Testing

• Clostridium perfrin­gens
• Coliforms
• Escherichia coli
• Enter­obac­te­ri­aceae
• Pseudomonas spp
• Ente­ro­cocci
• Bacillus cereus
• Staphy­lo­coccus aureus
• Aerobic plate count
• Lactic acid bacteria
• Yeast and Moulds
• Pseudomonas aerug­i­nosa
• Aceto­bacter
• Bacillus spp

Whether you are using water from a bore­hole, potable water as a raw mate­rial, or are a manu­fac­turer, water quality is essen­tial for the envi­ron­ment and public safety.

We can test the following water types:

• Potable Water
• Private Water Supplies
• Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Water
• Swim­ming Pool and Spa Water
• Process Water
• Closed Water Systems/​Tanks
• RO (Reverse Osmosis) Water

For the following micro­bi­o­log­ical tests:

• Legionella spp.
• Total Viable Counts (TVC)
• Escherichia coli
• Coliforms
• Ente­ro­cocci
• Sulphite reducing Clostridia
• Pseudomonas aerug­i­nosa
• Pseudomonas spp.
• Nitrate Reducing Bacteria
• Nitrite Oxidising Bacteria
• Sulphate Reducing Bacteria
• Staphy­lo­coccus spp.
• Bacillus spp.
• Shigella
• Flavobac­terium
• Mould

If required, results of Legionella testing can be reported 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Your results are avail­able in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via our secure web-based labPortal system.

Hygiene is one the most crit­ical factors in any food manu­fac­turing oper­a­tion and forms a funda­mental part of your HACCP due diligence.

Swab­bing is a quick, cost effec­tive method for moni­toring the hygiene of both your premises and staff.

Swab­bing moni­tors the effec­tive­ness of the food factory hygiene program and vali­dates cleaning procedures.

We can test for the following micro­bi­o­log­ical organisms:

• Listeria spp
• Salmo­nella spp
• Aerobic mesophilic count
• Coliforms
• Enter­obac­te­ri­aceae
• Escherichia coli
• Pseudomonas spp
• Staphy­lo­coccus aureus
• Yeasts and Moulds
• Bacillus cereus
• Clostridium perfrin­gens
• Lactic acid bacteria
• Escherichia coli O157

Micro­bi­o­log­ical moni­toring of air is a key compo­nent of envi­ron­mental moni­toring in organ­i­sa­tions such as hospi­tals, food facto­ries, clean­rooms and other controlled envi­ron­ments. Air plates are inex­pen­sive, easy to use and ideal for providing an early warning of prob­lems in envi­ron­ments such as a high-risk food factory.

We can provide air plates for air quality moni­toring and gener­ally test for the following micro­bi­o­log­ical organisms:

• Aerobic Colony count
• Yeasts and Moulds
• Enter­obac­te­ri­aceae

In addi­tion to routine micro­bi­o­log­ical testing, we can offer the following:

• Chal­lenge testing

  to simu­late what could happen to a product following inoc­u­la­tion with rele­vant micro-organism(s) and storage under the repre­sen­ta­tive conditions.

• Real time and accel­er­ated shelf-life evaluations

  shelf-life deter­mi­na­tion is essen­tial when devel­oping new food prod­ucts. When time constraints are limited some form of shelf-life predic­tion is useful. One Scien­tific performs ​‘real time’ and ​‘accel­er­ated’ shelf-life testing; the latter is a useful predic­tive tool for both NPD and troubleshooting.

• Alleged food poisoning

  when a consumer claims an alleged illness after consuming food it is impor­tant to everyone involved to find out whether their complaint is justi­fied. One Scien­tific can offer specialist advice and testing should this situ­a­tion occur.

• On-site trou­bleshooting and consultancy

  our specialist team of scien­tific special­ists and consul­tants are able to help with queries over the phone and onsite.

• In-labo­ra­tory basic micro­bi­o­log­ical training

  training for food QA staff in the prin­ci­ples of micro­bi­ology, testing of their prod­ucts, time frames and inter­pre­ta­tion of their results.

• Tailored research

  we can offer a bespoke service tailored to suit your food busi­ness requirements.