Dry Rehydratable Films for Enumeration of Coliforms and Aerobic Bacteria in Dairy Products: Collaborative Study

A collaborative study was conducted to compare proposed dry-film plating methods, using aerobic count plates and coliform count plates, to standard agar plating methods for quantifying aerobic bacteria and coliforms in dairy products. In this study, 5 food products (chocolate milk, pasteurized cheese, nonfat dry milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla ice cream), selected as representative dairy products, were analyzed by 11 collaborating laboratories. The results indicate that the dry-film plating methods are equivalent to or better than the agar plating methods. The aerobic count and coliform count dry-film plating methods have been adopted official first action.