Accelerated analysis improves bacterial quality of milk

The testing of bacteria in milk has received a boost with a new faster version BactoScan™ FC+ of the widely used BactoScan™ FC analyser from FOSS.

The testing of bacteria in milk has received a boost with a new faster version BactoScan™ FC+ of the widely used BactoScan™ FC analyser from FOSS. The new instrument is 30% faster, increasing the maximum number of samples that the instrument can handle from 50 to 65, 100 to 130 and 150 to 200 samples an hour. One unit can now cover a greater number of samples - a great advantage for busy milk testing laboratories allowing them to offer faster service while improving laboratory efficiency.

The BactoScan™ FC is widely used around the world by top milk-testing laboratories. Based on proven technology, it measures the hygienic quality of milk by counting bacteria cells in raw milk. The timely results allow dairy farmers to act quickly on any signs of hygiene problems in the milk supply. The hygienic quality of raw milk has a significant effect on the shelf life of milk and its suitability for dairy processing – the better the quality, the more uses it can be put too and the longer it can be preserved.

Apart from the faster sample throughput, the new instrument bears no signs of its turbo charged performance with all aspects of use and performance remaining the same.

The new instrument has been on field trial at LKV Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel Germany. Laboratory Manager Dr Monika Brandt said: "We had the opportunity to test the new faster BactoScan™ FC+ 200 for two weeks in May 2012. It is considerably faster and we could see this in the improved throughput of samples. Otherwise, it measures exactly the same superior performance with no loss of accuracy due to the increased speed."

As the automated BactoScan™ FC counts the total bacteria as single cells and not clusters, it gives a uniform high accuracy of results. BactoScan™ FC can analyse raw milk from various species and the samples can be analysed directly without prior heating or dilution. Analysis on cold samples reduce the risk of bacteria growth before the test and unlike traditional methods such as plate count, BactoScan™ FC reduces the possible influence caused by the operator to absolute minimum; all ensuring superior performance.

Source: FOSS