| 摘要 |
The contamination of foodstuffs, additives, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and the like by undesirable micro-organisms is threat to public health. On occasion, the level of bacteria that conventional testing techniques are designed to look for is so low that the test result for the bacterium is “negative”. However, the bacterium although present in un-detectably small amounts may multiply under the right conditions and given the shelf life of the product, may be able to recover to an extent whereby public health is threatened. This problem is alleviated by the provision of micro-organism testing apparatus comprising (a) an incubator, and (b) a multi-compartment resealable container provided with or adapted to receive a growth medium in one compartment and having a growth medium additive in another compartment, the compartments being separated by a barrier whose removal or puncture will expose the medium to the additive. |
| 主权项 |
1. A micro-organism detection apparatus, comprising:
a sealed, rigid at least partially transparent vial having at least one fixed length light path therethrough, the vial containing a sample fluid to be tested, a nutrient medium, and an indicator which changes color in the fluid if micro-organisms in the sample fluid grow therein; a vial receiving space; a vial incubator at least partially surrounding the vial receiving space; a light source or sources mounted on the incubator, configured to transmit white light or at least light in the red, green and blue optical bands through the vial; a first light sensor or sensors fixed in relation to the vial incubator, and configured to detect light received in at least the red, green and blue optical bands, which has passed through the sample fluid in the vial, from the light source or sources; a recorder having stored reference values of the light received at the light sensor or sensors in the red, green and blue optical bands for at least one known micro-organism, and configured for recording the light received at the light sensor or sensors in the red, green and blue optical bands at a starting time-point; a monitor for monitoring the light received at the light sensor or sensors in the red, green and blue optical bands over time; and a comparator configured to compare the light received at the light sensor or sensors in the red, green or blue optical bands over time with the light received at the light sensor or sensors in the red, green and blue optical bands at the starting time-point, with the stored reference values of the light received at the light sensor or sensors in the red, green and blue optical bands for the at least one known micro-organism, to detect changes indicative of the presence or absence of micro-organisms in the sample fluid. |
