What is ISO 17410-Method for the enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms about?
ISO 17410 discusses the microbiology of the food chain. ISO 17410 is an international standard that provides a method for the enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms to determine rates of microbial growth and death.
ISO 17410 applies to:
- Products intended for human consumption
- Products intended for animal feeding
- Environmental samples in food and feed production, handling
- Samples from the primary production stage
Note: Annex B specifies a rapid method for the estimated enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms in raw and pasteurized milk.
Who is ISO 17410-Method for the enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms for?
ISO 17410 on method for the enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms is useful for:
- Food scientists
- Food laboratories
- Microbiologists
- Food health and safety departments
Why should you use ISO 17410-Method for the enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms?
Psychrotrophic microorganisms can grow at low temperatures. These microorganisms may cause the decay of refrigerated foods (except gas-packaged foods) due to odor and taste deviations. Some psychrotrophic microorganisms present in raw milk are also capable of producing heat-stable enzymes. When heated (pasteurization or sterilization) these enzymes are insufficiently inactivated, causing quality defects in the heated product (fat or protein degradation).
ISO 17410 provides you with equipment and consumables, sampling, horizontal method, and procedures for enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms.
The method and procedure provided by ISO 17410 assist you to determine the number of individual viable microbes in a sample and enables you to improve the quality of food products.
By adopting ISO 17410 the user can improvise the efficiency of food products to produce a product of higher standard and quality.
What is changed since the last update?
BS ISO 17410:2019 supersedes BS ISO 6730:2005, BS ISO 17410:2001, and BS ISO 8552:2004, which is withdrawn. BS ISO 17410:2019 has made some technical changes compared to previous editions. These include:
- The surface-plating technique is used, opposed to the pour-plate technique as psychrotrophic microorganisms are sensitive to heat
- One horizontal method is used for the enumeration of psychrotrophic microorganisms in a) products intended for human consumption, b) products intended for animal feeding, c) environmental samples in food and feed production, handling, and d) samples from the primary production stage
- The rapid method has been included as an annex for the estimation of psychrotrophic plate count in raw and pasteurized milk
- Performance testing of the culture medium, plate count agar (PCA), has been introduced
- The expression of results has been changed to be in accordance with ISO 7218
