Case Study: Probiotic Flow Cytometry to Detect Non-Culturable Cells
The Challenge
A client has a new product called “Very Berry Bacillus Biotic” with both Bacillus subtillis and B. coagulans. This is a common combination of probiotic bacteria, and many manufactures run into enumberation issues when both are present. The Very Berry probiotic has a label claim of 15 billion CFU B. subtillis/serving and 15 billion CFU B. coagulans/serving and a formulation with 18 billion CFU/serving of each species. However, plate count results show 26 billion CFU/serving TOTAL Bacillus count.
Our Approach
Our team used flow cytometry to evaluate the cause of low total cell counts because it provides individual cell counts for each species. The flow cytometry results showed that the product contained 18 billion AFU B. coagulans live cells and 17 billion AFU B. subtillis live cells. So, the product contains sufficient live cells to meet the label claim for each species.
The Solution
Incorrect plate counts are common when combining B. coagulans and B. subtillis cells in a single product. When the two species are cultured on the same plate, one typically outgrows and overgrows the other, leading to an inaccurate reflection of the original culture. Flow cytometry circumvents this limitation with individual cell counts without extra growth steps. Additionally, plate count methods result in a total Bacillus count, whereas flow cytometry allows a count of individual species for enhanced label assurance.
Our Team
Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, Inc. in Madison, WI is our Center of Excellence to support probiotics and has the necessary expertise and capabilities to individually evaluate each product and ensure we are preparing the samples for accurate identification, enumeration, or contamination. We actively work with probiotic suppliers to become qualified to run their strain-specific enumeration procedures and offer them to our joint customers.
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