Boric acid lactose broth has been suggested (Levine et al., 1934; Vaughn and Levine, 1935; Vaughn et al., 1951; Levine et al., 1955) as a medium for the detection of Escherichia coli in water and in foods. This medium is designed to suppress Escherichia freundii and species of Aerobacter, organisms often considered to be nonfecal in origin. The published results are rather convincing where sepa...

Food safety is a major concern in the shellfish industry, as severe illness can result from consuming shellfish that have accumulated waterborne pathogens. Shellfish harvesting areas are typically monitored for indicator bacteria such as fecal coliforms that serve as proxies for enteric pathogens although these indicators have shown little relation to some naturally occurring pathogenic bacteri...

In order to assess the microbial water quality in canal waters throughout the Florida Keys, a survey was conducted to determine the concentration of microbial fecal indicators and the presence of human pathogenic microorganisms. A total of 19 sites, including 17 canal sites and 2 nearshore water sites, were assayed for total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens,...

Consumption of fresh tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) has been implicated as the cause of several foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States, most notably in cases of salmonellosis. How the levels of fecal indicator organisms (FIOs) in water relate to the counts of these microorganisms on the tomato fruit surface is unknown, although microbial water quality standards exist for agricultural...

Lago de Colina (Colina Lake) is located about 180 km south of the city of Chihuahua (Mexico), and during the Semana Santa (Holy Week) vacation period its recreational use is high. The objective of this study was to quantify coliform and heavy metal levels in this water body before and after the Holy Week vacation period in 2010. Twenty sampling points were randomly selected and two water sample...

Coliform group has been extensively used as an indicator of drinking water quality and historically led to the public health protection concept. Multiple tube fermentation technique has been currently used for assessment of the microbial quality of drinking water. This method, however, has limitations. Enzymatic assay constitute an alternative approach for detecting indicator bacteria, namely t...