What are the advantages and disadvantages of microbial detection and membrane filtration?

Membrane filtration is the most widely accepted microbial measurement method at present. Membrane filtration method can directly judge the species of microorganisms by the morphology of growing colonies. However, membrane filtration also has some disadvantages.

1. The culture time is too long, and the general membrane filtration method takes 3-5 days, which is time-consuming depending on the types of microorganisms.

2. General regulations and industry standards will fix parameters such as culture medium formula, culture time, temperature, etc., which inevitably cannot be applied to all microbial populations, leading to the possibility that some microorganisms cannot be cultured and thus missed inspection.

3. Some microorganisms, such as (VBNC), are special microorganisms and cannot be cultivated by conventional methods. Resting spore can't be cultivated by normal methods.

4. The membrane filtration method takes the number of colonies as the counting unit, but the colony is a relative concept and cannot directly reflect the actual number of microorganisms.

5. Membrane filtration is an off-line culture method, which involves many manual operations such as sampling, with high pollution risk and high risk of false positive results.

Mettler toledo Online Microbiological Analyzer uses the detection principle of laser-induced fluorescence to monitor microorganisms online, which can accurately detect each microorganism and read data in real time without consuming reagents and cultures. Online installation can eliminate sampling pollution and reduce risks.