“It is notoriously difficult to test for yeast and mold in yogurt. They are very slow growing organisms compared to most other bacteria, and the number of live beneficial bacteria in yogurt can confound conventional testing methods for any undesirable microbial contaminant in the product,” said Neogen’s Ed Bradley, vice president of Food Safety. “Yeasts and molds are also unique, as they represent a large and diverse group of microorganisms that can cause various degrees of deterioration and decomposition of foods. While there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach for rapidly testing for yeast and mold in the myriad of yogurt types, this is the first time that a set of testing protocols using Soleris provides easy-to-follow guidance to produce rapid, accurate test results regardless of yogurt type.”

Neogen’s newly developed testing protocols for yogurt include:

• The use of a unique pre-enrichment. All yogurt types can be tested using Neogen’s YM-EBY pre-enrichment protocol, which favors the growth of any possible yeast and mold in the sample over all other bacteria types; provides presence or absence results in 72 hours.
• Use of a 1:10 dilution.All yogurt types except those with a high probiotic load can be tested using a 1:10 specification monitoring protocol; provides results of less than 10 CFU per gram of sample in 48 to 72 hours.
• 1 gram direct protocol.This protocol allows the direct placement of 1 gram of yogurt into the Soleris vial, but only yogurts without preservatives or moderate probiotic loads are recommended for this protocol. For most sample types, provides presence or absence results in 72 hours.

Contact Neogen for more information, including which protocol would be appropriate for use with your yogurt type of interest.

Neogen’s Soleris platform also includes a new test for coliforms in yogurt, which provide yogurt producers with results in as little as 12 hours; conventional methods take 24 hours. This new vial (product code: DC-105) allows for the direct addition of 1 gram of yogurt into the vial and can detect 1 CFU per gram of yogurt sample.

Neogen Corporation (NASDAQ: NEOG) develops and markets products dedicated to food and animal safety. The company’s Food Safety Division markets diagnostic test kits to detect foodborne bacteria, natural toxins, genetic modifications, food allergens, drug residues, meat speciation, plant diseases, and sanitation concerns, and dehydrated culture media.