Question: Hello, I represent a very important agro-industrial group in Mexico. We have several roles such as wheat mills, fruit, and vegetable processing.
Right now we have a situation in one of our facilities that we want to resolve. We have a hydroponic greenhouse where we produce lettuce, mainly 3 different varieties (Boston, Lollobionda, Lollorosa). We have had several problems in the production of lettuce. We did some analysis and we have found that the root cause of the problem is in the seed.
This seed comes from Holland, and the seed is encapsulated by some material that is supposed to protect the naked seed and improve the shelf life. In our studies we have found that the encapsulation material is contaminated with some fungal pathogens and bacteria, so this is why we are requesting your support.
In a research institute in Mexico they found in the encapsulation material the following fungal pathogens and bacteria:
– Fusarium
– Verticillium
– Acremonium
– Phythium
– Aspergillus
– Stenotrophomonas
– Acinetobacter
– Bacillus cereus
So we want to confirm with your labs if these microorganisms are present in the seed or in the encapsulation material. So we need to know if your labs are able to do this analysis, the cost of the analysis and how much time you think this will take. If by some reason MBL are not able to do this kind of analysis, could you recommend some laboratory that could help us with this request.
I’ll wait for your comments, thanks and best regards.
Answer: We can you determine the fungal and bacterial pathogens present in the seeds and the encapsulation material. However, since this material is coming from outside of Canada, an import permit from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) would be required. We would suggest you use a lab in Mexico for this kind of testing.
The commonly used sampling method for airborne bacteria is the impaction of air onto agar media using volumetric samplers such as Andersen, SAS, or RCS. Samples can also be collected by impingement into liquid media. However, for routine air quality monitoring agar based sampling is recommended. Trypticase soy agar (TSA) media is usually used when sampling for bacteria. It is important to select a medium suitable for growth of the target organism, for example when sampling for some specific bacteria such as Legionella. Sampling time depends on the sampler used but generally not more than 10 minutes. Shorter times are recommended in heavily contaminated areas. Samples are kept cool and shipped for overnight delivery to the laboratory for incubation and identification of the dominant species.