title: Evolution of microbiological analytical methods for dairy industry needs.
abstract: Traditionally, culture-based methods have been used to enumerate microbial populations in dairy products. Recent developments in molecular methods now enable faster and more sensitive analyses than classical microbiology procedures. These molecular tools allow a detailed characterization of cell physiological states and bacterial fitness and thus, offer new perspectives to integration of microbial physiology monitoring to improve industrial processes. This review summarizes the methods described to enumerate and characterize physiological states of technological microbiota in dairy products, and discusses the current deficiencies in relation to the industry's needs. Recent studies show that Polymerase chain reaction-based methods can successfully be applied to quantify fermenting microbes and probiotics in dairy products. Flow cytometry and omics technologies also show interesting analytical potentialities. However, they still suffer from a lack of validation and standardization for quality control analyses, as reflected by the absence of performance studies and official international standards.
authors.affiliation: Food Safety and Quality Unit, ADRIA Développement, Agri-Food Technical Institute, Quimper, France.
authors.forename: Danièle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sohier
authors.affiliation: Food Safety and Quality Unit, ADRIA Développement, Agri-Food Technical Institute, Quimper, France.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavan
authors.affiliation: Food Safety and Quality Unit, ADRIA Développement, Agri-Food Technical Institute, Quimper, France.
authors.forename: Armelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riou
authors.affiliation: Bretagne Biotechnologie Alimentaire dairy association member, Analytical Sciences, Danone Research, Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Combrisson
authors.affiliation: Food Safety and Quality Unit, ADRIA Développement, Agri-Food Technical Institute, Quimper, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Postollec
keywords: PCR; analytical method; bacterial fitness; dairy; flow cytometry; food microbiology; probiotic; quality control