A Simple High-Throughput Technology for Microorganism Detection and Quantitative Analysis

Normal and damaged microorganisms are related to food safety. The colony-forming unit (CFU) assay and viability of microorganisms have broad applications in food. Traditionally, the CFU assay has been the benchmark for assessing microbial viability across various fields. However, the normal and damaged microorganisms cannot be distinguished. Here, we introduce an improved technology for foods that uses a visible absorbance microplate reader platform for high-throughput quantitative analysis of microbial lag time, doubling time, and CFU. This platform utilizes a 96-well plate and a microplate reader to accurately determine the viable cell number from a five-microliter sample. It boasts the capability to measure a dynamic range spanning from five to seven orders of magnitude, significantly reducing the time required by over 20-fold in comparison to traditional spread plate methods. Additionally, it demonstrates a remarkable ability to detect a single cell within a well. A mild temperature treatment for cell viability detection was implemented and was able to reflect the real microbial quality. Consequently, the high-throughput method as an improved technology provides essential technical support for microbial detection.