Dairy products are characterized by reduced shelf life because they are an excellent growth medium for a wide range of microorganisms. For this reason, it is important to monitor the microbiological quality of dairy products and, in particular, the total viable count and concentration of Escherichia coli, as they are indicators of the hygienic state of these products. In addition, in dairy products such as Mozzarella cheese, it is important to monitor the concentration of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), as they are the major components of starter cultures used in cheese production, contributing to the taste and texture of fermented products and inhibiting food spoilage bacteria by producing growth-inhibiting substances. For these reasons, to ensure the quality and safety of their products, cheese makers should monitor frequently, during fresh cheese production, the concentration of LAB and spoilage bacteria. However, usually, small- to medium-size dairy factories do not have an internal microbiological laboratory and external laboratories of analysis are often too expensive and require several days for the results. Compared with traditional methods, the microbiological survey (MBS) method developed by Roma Tre University (Rome, Italy) allows faster and less-expensive microbiological analyses to be conducted wherever they are necessary, without the need for a microbiological laboratory or any instrumentation other than MBS vials and a thermostat. In this paper, we report the primary validation of the MBS method to monitor LAB concentration in Mozzarella cheese and the analysis, using the MBS method, of total viable count, E. coli, and LAB concentrations in the production line of Mozzarella cheese as well as during the shelf life of the product stored at 20°C. The results obtained indicate that the MBS method may be successfully used by small- to medium-size dairy factories that do not have an internal microbiological laboratory. Using the MBS method, these dairy factories can monitor autonomously the microbiological safety and quality of their products, saving both time and money.

In clinically suspected urinary tract infections (UTIs), empirical antibiotic treatment is usually started long before the laboratory results of urine culture and antibiogram are available. Although molecular diagnostic approaches are being applied to the diagnosis of many infections, UTIs are generally diagnosed by traditional culture methods. Patient care could greatly benefit from the development of a rapid, accurate, inexpensive test that could be done at patient's bedside, allowing the practitioner to plan targeted, more effective therapy. Such a test would potentially reduce incorrect or unnecessary use of antibacterial drugs and reduce the emergence of bacterial resistance. In response to this pressing and unmet clinical need, several methods have been developed in the last few years. Among these, the new point-of-care test (POCT) for detecting UTIs named Micro Biological Survey (MBS) UTI CHECK holds promise, as it allows semi-quantitative determination of bacterial load in urine leading to a fast detection of UTIs and to evaluation of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility. This new technology operates through a colorimetric survey performed in low-cost, ready-to-use, disposable vials, in which 1 ml of urine is inoculated without any preliminary treatment and requiring neither specialized personnel nor a specialized equipment.

The market of ready-to-eat leafy green salads is experiencing a noticeable growth in Europe. Since they are intended to be consumed without additional treatments, these ready-to-eat products are associated with a high microbiological risk. The aim of this work was to evaluate the microbiological quality and safety of ready-to-eat leafy green salads sold in widespread supermarket chains in Lazio, Italy, on the packaging date during shelf-life and during home-refrigeration. The study also aimed to determine the differences between low-, medium-, and high-cost products. Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes were chosen as safety indicators as specified by European regulations while total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and Escherichia coli were chosen as quality indicators as suggested by national guidelines. Analyses were performed following the ISO standards and in parallel for the evaluation of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, with an alternative colorimetric system, the Micro Biological Survey method, in order to propose a simple, affordable and accurate alternative for testing the microbiological quality of products, especially suitable for small and medium enterprises and on-site analyses. The study revealed high, unsatisfactory, total bacterial loads in all analyzed samples on the packaging date and expiry date and a very high prevalence of Salmonella spp. (67%) regardless of the selected varieties and cost categories; L. monocytogenes was not recovered aligning with the results obtained in other studies.

Graphical abstract

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections occurring in both community and health care setting. Laboratory diagnosis of UTIs is attained by conventional urine culture which identifies and quantifies infecting bacteria, followed by antibiotic susceptibility testing. This approach is time consuming and requires a considerable workload. A user-friendly, automated test for rapid bacterial quantification has been developed by MBS (a spin-off of Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy) as a point-of-care test (POCT) for UTIs. The aim of this study was to perform a preliminary clinical trial of the new MBS POCT for diagnosis and management of UTIs. Methods: A prospective diagnostic accuracy evaluation study was performed in collaboration with the Emergency Department of the Azienda Ospedaliera Sant' Andrea of Rome (Italy), on 122 patients with clinically suspected UTIs. Results of the MBS POCT were compared with those of the routine tests for urine culture and antibiotic susceptibility. Results: The MBS POCT, used in the Emergency Department, provided a UTI diagnosis in < 5 hours with very high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. However, antibiotic susceptibility evaluation provided some false resistant results, when exceedingly high concentrations of bacteria were present in urines. Conclusion:The MBS POCT represents a valuable diagnostic tool for the detection of UTI, substantially saving time and assuring comparable quality of results, ultimately facilitating the successful management of infections. As for conventional antibiotic susceptibility tests, the bacterial inoculum is critical for significance of results.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, “safe drinking-water must not represent any significant risk to health over a lifetime of consumption, including different sensitivities that may occur between life stages”. Traditional methods of water analysis are usually complex, time consuming and require an appropriately equipped laboratory, specialized personnel and expensive instrumentation. The aim of this work was to apply an alternative method, the Micro Biological Survey (MBS), to analyse for contaminants in drinking water. Preliminary experiments were carried out to demonstrate the linearity and accuracy of the MBS method and to verify the possibility of using the evaluation of total coliforms in 1 mL of water as a sufficient parameter to roughly though accurately determine water microbiological quality. The MBS method was then tested “on field” to assess the microbiological quality of water sources in the city of Douala (Cameroon, Central Africa). Analyses were performed on both dug and drilled wells in different periods of the year. Results confirm that the MBS method appears to be a valid and accurate method to evaluate the microbiological quality of many water sources and it can be of valuable aid in developing countries.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections in all age groups. Fast and accurate diagnosis is essential to ensure a timely and effective therapy. Alongside with reference culture-based methods, several point-of-care tests (POCTs) for early detection of UTIs have been developed, but they have not been significantly implemented in current clinical practice. The Micro Biological Survey (MBS) POCT is a simple test developed by MBS Diagnostics Ltd. (London, UK) for the detection and management of UTIs. The present study has been undertaken to investigate the potentials and limits of the MBS POCT. A total of 349 patients were enrolled in two open-label, monocentric, non-interventional clinical trials in collaboration with an Emergency Medicine department and the outpatient clinic of two hospitals in Rome. Results of urine analysis using the MBS POCT were compared with those of the routine culture-based tests for UTI diagnosis performed by the hospital laboratory. The MBS POCT provided fast results revealing high bacterial count UTIs (≥ 10 5 CFU/ml) with 97% accuracy, 92% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 99% PPV, and 96% NPV within a 5-h analytical time threshold.

Standardized microbiological methods used in clinical analysis are based on traditional microbial enrichment on selective media, possibly followed by characterization of bacteria with molecular methods. These techniques present several difficulties, such as the subjectivity in the interpretation of genetic, biochemical or morphological tests and the possible interference of biological matrices, specially when low levels of contamination are present. In addition, standardized microbiological analyses are characterised by the high cost of the method, both in terms of labor and supplies, and above all, by the long time needed to obtain definitive results (from 3 to 7 days). These reasons have led to the development and refinement of microbiological POCTs which are now available for several microorganisms, even thought no microbiological POCT was up to now developed for the count of total viable bacteria (TVC) in serum, urine or other biological fluids.MBS srl (a spin-off of Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy) has developed and patented an alternative method for selective counting of bacteria, called Micro Biological Survey (MBS) method. The MBS method is based on colorimetric survey performed in mono-use disposable reaction vials in which samples can be inoculated without any preliminary treatment. The analyses can be carried out by untrained personnel and anywhere they are necessary, without the need for any other instrumentation than a thermostated optical reader that can automatically detect the colour change providing the number of bacteria present into the sample. The MBS method measures the catalytic activity of redox enzymes in the main metabolic pathways of bacteria, allowing an unequivocal correlation between the observed enzymatic activity and the number of viable cells present in the samples. The time required for a color change is inversely related to the log of bacterial concentration; like an enzymatic reaction, the greater the number of bacteria, the faster the color change.The objective of this study was the primary validation, in accord with ISO 13843:2003 (Guidance on validation of microbiological methods), of the quantitative Micro Biological Survey (MBS) method for Total Viable Count (TVC). Validation aims to compare the results obtained with an alternative method, in this case the MBS method, with the results obtained with the reference method. To verify the equivalence between the two methods different parameters were analyzed: selectivity, linearity and accuracy. The validation has shown that the MBS method gives similar results and is in agreement with the reference methods. The MBS method could therefore represent a worthy aid in microbiological analysis as POCT device without replacing the analysis carried out with traditional methods which are very precise though often long and complex.