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At Log10®, we provide professional consulting, research, training and support for professionals in the food manufacturing and delivery industries. The Log10 indicator testing process provides an efficient way to monitor your systems for the presence of harmful bacteria, giving you an accurate reading of your product’s condition in a time-efficient manner. This enables your business to cut back on waste for issues regarding contamination.
What Are Indicator Organisms?
If you utilize aerobic plate count (APC) for food testing, you may also be familiar with indicator organisms. Indicator organisms are organisms that aren’t necessarily a danger to food in and of themselves but are signs that other, more dangerous pathogens may be present. An indicator organism is a type of bacteria whose discovery during testing may act as a warning sign of potential contamination issues. Commonly found in food products derived from animals, these indicator organisms can include bacteria such as E. Coli, P. Aeruginosa and other coliforms. The presence of indicator organisms in water typically indicates that unwanted pathogens exist in the product you are handling and may require remediation.
“Indicator organisms” and “control indicators” are interchangeable terms for the same process in microbiology. For example, some strains of E. coli are harmless and do not cause foodborne illness in humans when ingested, but can alert you to the potential presence of pathogens, which can cause serious foodborne illness.
Microorganism Testing Lab
You already know how crucial it is to control your food product. Indicator organisms reflect the microbiological character of foods and their safety from pathogens. Measuring microorganisms as a safety precaution allows professionals to perform the following actions:
- Detect pathogens and assess if the product can leave the facility for consumption
- Analyze the overall condition of the food product
- Classify microorganisms for further effects on product and health
- Measure how much of a microorganism exists within a product
- Inhibit further growth of a pathogen on a product
These microorganisms signal that pathogens might be present, but the safety of a product correlates to how much of a specific bacterium is present. Log10 can help you identify whether or not pathogens are present, determine if bacteria are harmful, and design a solution to eliminate the contamination if necessary.
Our Indicator Testing Capabilities
Log10 can easily identify and isolate indicator organisms such as:
- Aerobic Plate Count
- Anaerobic Plate Count
- Coliforms
- Lactic Acid Bacteria
- E.coli
- Enterobacteriaceae
- Lactobacilli
- Yeast & Mold
The Future of Indicator Organism Testing at Log10
Indicator organism testing is an evolving field and Log10 is proud to work at the forefront of this emerging science.
Log10 plans to share more about a proprietary line of indicator testing in the near future. These microorganism tests will detect hot spots of an organism within a product. The testing indicators will be helpful for companies looking to focus efforts on specific types of bacteria and where exactly they exist on products.
Speak to an Indicator Organism Testing Expert
Why Microbiological Indicator Organisms Are Useful
It should be noted that not all indicator organisms are harmful; in fact, a number of indicator organisms are benign. In other words, they are harmless to consumers at lower levels and may not require elimination. Microbiological indicator organisms are useful in that most other methods used to test for pathogens require too much time to detect or are too expensive to conduct, especially when analyzing large batches of product.
Log10 makes it faster and easier to detect indicator species, even in large batches. With Log10, you can quickly identify contamination and devise a solution that will save your product. We help you decide on the appropriate response to microorganisms within your practices.
Use of Probiotics for Indicator Organisms
Log10 can identify and remediate indicator organisms and pathogens in the biofilm that inevitably develops on environmental surfaces in your facility. Whether you manage an agricultural operation, farm, human or animal food processing plant or food storage and distribution facility. Our custom probiotics can reduce the levels of indicator organisms and potential pathogens in the developed biofilm of any facility.
We’ve done years of research to develop our Pre-liminate™ probiotic blends, which are ideally suited for remediating foodborne pathogen contamination in the facility environment or food product. We can even customize our probiotic blends to make it the ideal composition for the specific environment of your industry and product.
Contact Log10
For more information about indicator testing, our products and services, be sure to contact an expert at Log10 today.