With the increasing number and assortment of commercially available rapid tests for food microbiology, lab managers need to make sure all their options have been considered before choosing a rapid method for evaluation. The recently published 'Microbiology Methods - a new review from CCFRA' provides a comprehensive guide to tests for detection, enumeration and confirmation/identification of microorganisms of interest to food microbiologists.

This is the fifth edition of the guide, and contains updated information on over 300 commercially available kits. The first section is an alphabetical listing of manufacturing companies with their brand names and a tabulation showing which pathogens they provide kits for. The table displays a cross reference to other pages of the guide for finding more details on that product - such as the principle behind the test, approximate test time, validation status and key references.

Test types covered include screening and isolation of pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, E.coli O157/VTEC, Staph aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica and Campylobacter. Spoilage organisms, hygiene monitoring, bacterial toxins and indicator organisms are also included.

The guide costs 60 GBP for CCFRA members and 90 GBP for non-members