What kind of microscope requited to do food testing for FDA approval?

[ahvincent]

I want to do some pre-testing for food product experiments.

This is for food in jars that will be either pasteurized, pressure cooked or hot water bath.

What kind of microscope would be adequate to do that?

This is the tests they will do the to the product samples, the PPM and ratio should be similar to US standards.

Here is the email they sent me as to what testing they will do:


Notification of the Ministry of Health No. 144 (2535 BC.)and 301(2549 BC.),3(1)

Testing Item : including
Coliform Bacteria , S.aureus , Salmonella spp.,Bensoic acid, Sorbic acid, Yeast&Mold, acid-resistant bacteria like growth at 30 and 55 C, Coliform Bacteria
Not sure what kind of equipment to test bensoic and sorbic acid? I already have a good pH meter.

Thanks,
Bruno

[Mad-Scientist]

By the description, it might seem like you might need an electron microscope. It would depend on the size of magnification that you are looking for, but for the the clearest picture on parts per million and bacteria, an electron microscope would be best. This is not to say that a compound light microscope wouldn't work. To see bacteria generally a microscope with a magnification of 1000X is needed, this is about the max magnification of a light microscope.

[hypervalent_iodine]

By the description, it might seem like you might need an electron microscope. It would depend on the size of magnification that you are looking for, but for the the clearest picture on parts per million and bacteria, an electron microscope would be best. This is not to say that a compound light microscope wouldn't work. To see bacteria generally a microscope with a magnification of 1000X is needed, this is about the max magnification of a light microscope.

I hardly think the OP is in the market for an electron microscope, especially given that there are much easier/cheaper ways of testing for and identifying certain bacteria. For example. Simply having a microscope will not be likely to be sufficient for this type of testing, in any case.

 

As well, pH meter will only tell you if you have an acidic or basic solution. It won't tell you what acids are actually present. There would be other identification protocols for this involving extractions and the use of some form of characterization equipment like GCMS, but I don't know exactly what these would be off the top of my head. A quick search of detection of benzoic (note: benzoic, not bensoic) acid in food also gave back this invention.

 

In short, if you don't have access to a lab with analytical equipment that will produce accurate and precise results, you're not going to have much luck in your endeavor were you to pursue it yourself. Another option is to send your samples to an independent lab for testing. This would probably be better as it requires much less of an investment on your part and people who actually know what they're doing (supposedly) will be doing the testing.