Using FTIR to Detect Microbial Contamination during the Production of Microbial Products

User Benefits

- This technique can be used to detect microbial contamination of a production process for microbial products. - The diffuse reflectance accessory and microfocus plate enable efficient multi-sample measurement. - An analysis time of around 30 seconds per sample enables the rapid completion of analysis tasks.

Introduction

The production of microbial products can be summarized by the five steps. First, stock microbial cells are thawed (activation), pre-cultured (in a small volume of medium), expansion cultured (in a large-scale culture), harvested, and then post-processed to create a final product that is suitable for commercial sale. However, microbial contamination of this production process has a critical effect on product quality and safety, so it must be detected quickly and accurately. Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), an analytical technique for characterizing the molecular structure of analyte substances, has attracted attention due to its effectiveness particularly in identifying microorganisms. Infrared spectra recorded by FTIR analysis of a microorganism contain information about the lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, carbohydrates, and other molecular components of that microorganism, which can be used to monitor microorganisms being cultured under a fixed set of conditions (the same culture medium, temperature, and time). In this Application News, the IRXross FTIR system was combined with a DRS-8000 diffuse reflectance accessory (a custom model) and used to detect microbial contamination during the production of microbial products.

September 30, 2025 GMT