570. A medium for the simultaneous enumeration and preliminary identification of milk microflora

Abstract

A medium has been developed that permits the viable count of milk bacteria to be combined with the determination of biochemical properties likely to be important in milk itself. This has involved the modification of standard glucose-tryptone skim-milk agar by incorporation of two indicators to detect alkali as well as acid production, substitution of lactose for glucose, and increasing the quantity of skim milk for the detection of proteolysis and casein precipitation. The medium has proved particularly valuable in the study of the thermoduric flora of pasteurized milk. The phenomenon of casein precipitation is, however, less reliably determined than are changes in hydrogen-ion concentration and proteolysis.