Quantifying Infectious Contamination of Foods

Food service sanitation is a critically important issue to everyone: consumers, restaurants, delicatessens, grocery stores and food companies. Many studies have been done in this area and research continues. One such study utilized a Texture Analyzer (see Figure 1) in a unique application to study the transfer of bacteria from food surfaces to the food product. The study was undertaken to learn which factors are most important in determining how effectively bacteria can transfer from any surface that comes in contact with food. Texture Analyzers are generally used to study the structure of food products by measuring the response of the item to the application of controlled forces. It is the ability of the Texture Analyzer to apply controlled force to a food item that was the reason for its choice in this study.