Joint Committee on Food Equipment

• Support - adopting VRB agar language on pour plating. 
• Support with reservations - the use of density standards to estimate cell counts.

I connected with our resident microbiologist to get an opinion on this proposed wording change. His comments are below: 

• In regards to verifying organism density, I am aligned with adopting the language around pour plating using VRB agar. 
• However, I do have hesitancy in relation to using density standards to estimate cell counts.
• Given the performance standards around demonstrating a 5+ log reduction, I feel that it would be more difficult to get an accurate reading for starting concentration compared to using optical density or pour plating assessments.
• In short, I would be fine with adopting VRB agar language on pour plating but not necessarily on the use of density standards.

I do not have a specific proposed solution but given the number of voting members who have abstained, I wonder if additional education about the existing methodology and the rationale for the proposed changes would be useful.