The survival and recovery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its effect upon salmonellae in water:methodology to test bottled water in Canada

Abstract

Methodology used to support changes to the Regulations for bottled water in the Food and Drugs Act of Canada, which include criteria for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0 colony-forming units/100 mL of water), was used to assess the survival of P. aeruginosa in inoculated bottled water. The effects of P. aeruginosa on the survival of Salmonella spp. in bottled water were also investigated. The methodology used in the isolation included the use of hydrophobic grid membrane filters, a resuscitation step on tryptic soy agar, and selective plating on P. aeruginosa selective agar for P. aeruginosa and on xylose lysine desoxycholate agar for salmonellae. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and salmonellae proliferated and survived in inoculated water for up to 100days or longer. Pseudomonas aeruginosa had a synergistic effect on the survival of salmonellae, enabling them to survive for more than 140 days in double distilled water.Key words: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, salmonellae, bottled water, methodology.