Article: Quantifying Infectious Contamination Of Foods

By Leonard Thibodeau, Texture Product Manager

Food service sanitation is a critically important issue to every one: 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 in a unique application to study the transfer of bacteria from food surfaces to the food product.

In studies such as this one, a particular contact force is chosen along with one contact time. The condition of the food prep surface, the type of bacteria, and the specific food product are varied. It would be easy to vary only the contact force or the contact time while holding every thing else constant to see if force or time is also important.