Page 47 - FoodFocusThailand No.168 March 2020

STRONG QC & QA

considered to be a qualitative examination present is counted after incubation).
only. Surface microbiological investigations Also, pathogenic microbes such as
can be precisely and responsively identified Escherichia coli O157:H7 or
microbial targets of both quantitative and Salmonella spp. can be examined by
qualitative measures, but inconvenience and hygiene monitoring tests on the
delayed results. Then, techniques that are surface and environment of food
reliable, convenient, rapid, and easy to factories. Currently, there are a
interpret are therefore popular for use in considerable number of commercial
hygiene monitoring, allowing the food factory inspection kits developed for these
to efficiently solve problems. purposes to detect pathogenic
Surface hygiene monitoring using microbes in qualitative and/or
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) technology quantitative.
determines biological residues from microbial Clearly, hygienic monitoring in a
cells or other living tissues such as animals food factory plays a very important role today. Various international laws or regulations
Hygiene alternative technique for many plants to (FSMA) of the United States of America. The act has issued a Hazard Analysis and Risk-
and plants. ATP testing is therefore an
have identified an increase in its importance, such as the Food Safety Modernization Act
implement because of its ease of use, high
based Preventive Control Requirements as a preventive control measure. The
sensitivity and efficiency, as well as providing
requirements are determined that the validation or usability of cleaning and sanitizing
rapid quantitative results. In addition, the ATP
methods is carried out efficiently and completely. Therefore, food factories should pay
Monitoring testing can be used in cleaning system, close attention to hygiene monitoring scheme. Beside obtaining information for an
Cleaning in Place, to determine the sanitation
immediate decision taken or for improving the hygienic monitoring program, this helps
of the final rinse inspection. Yet, ATP-based
allowing hygienic monitoring of factories to be more effective, resulting in continually
monitoring system has significant limitations
improving prerequisite programs and food safety management systems.
in Food industry in establishing the correlation between ATP
content and microbial counts due to the
difference in the amount of ATP in each type
of microbe. Among other things, the residue เอกสารอ้างอิง/Reference
Giambrone, C. 2013. Hygiene Monitoring Strategies that Hit the Mark. Available from https://
of disinfectants on surfaces that have been www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/hygiene-monitoring-strategies-that-hit-the-mark/, accessed date:
cleaned and sanitized may cause false 14 February 2020.
positives or false negative results, depending
on the type of residual disinfectants. In
addition to the ATP method, another technique
is to evaluate the sanitary quality over the
residues of proteins or sugars on the surface
after cleaning to indicate cleanliness levels
by observing the degree of color change on
test kits.
Hygiene monitoring in a food factory can
also be performed by monitoring microbial
indicators, such as total microorganisms,
yeast/mold, coliform bacteria, Escherichia
coli, Enterobacteriaceae or Staphylococcus
spp. For example, meat, poultry, or dairy
plants generally inspect coliforms or
Enterobacteriaceae, whereas bakery plants
check out yeast and mold. Moreover, food
factories are able to monitor microbial air
hygiene by using sedimentation plate or
settling plate technique (placing the petri
dishes with solidified culture media in the
desire area, open the lid for an appropriate
period of time, then incubate for microbial
examination, such as total microbes, yeast,
and mold) or use a commercial device called
an air sampler (collecting the right and known
volume of air sample through or over a
collection device which can be a liquid or a
solid culture medium or a nitrocellulose
membrane, and the number of microbes

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