Rapid Analysis Techniques in Food Microbiology, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1994

The food industry, with its diverse range of products (e.g. short shelf-life foods, modified atmosphere packaged products and minimally processed products) is governed by strict food legislation, and microbiological safety has become a key issue. Legally required to demonstrate 'due diligence', food manufacturers are demanding analytical techniques that are simple to use, cost effective, robust, reliable and can provide results in 'real time'. The majority of current microbiological techniques (classical or rapid), particularly for the analysis of foodborne pathogens, give results that are only of retrospective value and do not allow proactive or reactive measures to be imple­ mented during modem food production. Rapid methods for microbial analysis need to be considered in the context of modem Quality Assurance (QA) systems. This book addresses microbiologists, biochemists and immunologists in the food industry, the public health sector, academic and research institutes, and manufacturers of kits and instruments. This volume is an up-to-date account of recent developments in rapid food microbiological analysis, current approaches and problems, rapid methods in relation to QA systems, and future perspectives in an intensely active field. P.D.P. Contributors Public Health Laboratory, Royal Preston Hospital, PO Box F.J. Bolton 202, Sharoe Green Lane North, Preston PR2 4HG, UK. D. M. Gibson Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Torry Research Station, 135 Abbey Road, Aberdeen AB9 8DG, Scotland. P.A. Hall Microbiology and Food Safety, Kraft General Foods, 801 Waukegan Road, Glenview, Illinois 60025, USA.

History of and Prospects for Rapid and Instrumental Methodology for the Microbiological Examination of Foods. Development and Evaluation of Membrane Filtration. Techniques in Microbial Analysis. Evaluation of Commercial Kits and Instruments for the Detection of Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens and Toxins. Microbiological Applications of Immunomagnetic Techniques. Automated Electrical Techniques in Microbiological Analysis. Modern Methods for the Detection of Viruses in Foods. Luminescent Techniques for Detecting and Enumerating Foodborne Fungi. Scope for Rapid Microbiological Methods in Modern Food Production. Detection and Identification of Foodborne Microbial Pathogen by the Polymerase Chain Reaction: Food Safety Applications. Index.

'The authors keep themselves in the real world with regular references to the practical aspects of their subject and most of the commercially available kits are referred to. In some instances this is not done in glowing terms and shortfalls in some kits are identified, which in this day and age is something to be valued in a book of the type.'International Food Hygiene'...of great value to anyone wishing to gain updates into specific areas of rapid microbiological methods. The chapters are well researched and written and provide excellent reviews of their respective areas.'Society for General Microbiology'This book is recommended...'Acta Alimentaria