The mesophilic aerobic plate count or standard plate count (SPC) of fresh food product reflects conditions of raw product quality, processing, handling and storage. Current standard methods require a 48h incubation period to obtain the results. Two rapid alterantive methods: SimplateTM TPC-CI and PetrifilmTM Aerobic Count (AC) Plate were compared to standard methods. Also, we evaluated the inhibitory effect of 2, 3, 5 triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) when added to Plate Count Agar. This dye is colorless in the oxidized form and red when reduced by microorganisms, due to the formation of formazan. Sixty ice cream samples were used in this study to obtain correlation coefficients, which ranged from 0.866-0.979, indicating equivalent sensitivities to existing methods. Only plate count with TTC differed significantly from the standard plate count.
Standard plate counts; rapid methods; ice-cream; 2, 3, 5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride; TTC
