Comparison of Pulsifier (TM) Stomacher (TM) to detach microorganisms from lean meat tissues

A new sample processor, the Pulsifier (TM) was evaluated for detaching bact eria from lean meat tissue (LMT) and compared with stomacher. In a comparat ive study on 50 samples of LMT, Total Aerobic Counts (TAC) and coliforms fr om pulsified samples were not statistically different from stomached sample s (R-2 = 0.971; y = 1.0274 x -0.1694 and R-2 = 0. 959; y = 1.0073 x + 0.188 , respectively). Even though the detaching capacity of microorganisms from LMT was similar between Pulsifier and Stomacher, pulsified suspensions alwa ys contained much less meat particles than stomached samples. In the case o f stomached samples, many meat particles were present to interfere with eve n regular pour plating. The superior quality of microbial suspensions from the Pulsifer has implications for general analysis as well as techniques su ch as ATP bioluminescence, DNA, or enzymatic assay, which may be interfered by tissue extracts.