Microbiology of the food chain - Horizontal method for the enumeration of coagulase-positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) - Part 2: Method using rabbit plasma fibrinogen agar medium (ISO 6888-2:2021)

2Scope / Description

This document defines a horizontal method for the enumeration of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus colonies on a solid culture medium (rabbit plasma–fibrinogen agar) following aerobic incubation at 34 °C to 38 °C (see reference [10]). The document is applicable to: products intended for human consumption; products intended for animal feeding; environmental samples from food and feed production and handling areas; and primary production samples. This horizontal method was originally developed for the analysis of samples throughout the food chain. Given the high variability among food-chain products, this method may not be fully applicable to every product in every detail. However, any necessary modifications are expected to be minimal and not cause significant deviation from the defined horizontal method. Based on the information available at the time of publication, this method is not considered (fully) suitable for the analysis of fermented products or products containing a technological flora of other Staphylococcus species (e.g., S. xylosus) (such as cheeses made from raw milk and certain raw meat products), which are likely contaminated with: Staphylococci that form atypical colonies on Baird–Parker agar; or background microflora that may obscure the colonies of interest. Nevertheless, this document has been accorded equivalent status to ISO 6888-1.