The CTCPA proposes to count and characterize the sporulated bacteria flora in food matrix.
 

• by applying the NF V 08-602 norm (written by the CTCPA)
• by the specific method THT (Highly Themoresistant Thermophilic Flora)
   

OBJECTIVE	METHOD	RESULTS	INTEREST
Contractualize a level of microbial charge of raw material	Method of counting spores NF V 08-602 (2011), developed by the CTCPA	Number of viable spores by category : - aerobic / anaerobic mesophiles - aerobic / anaerobic thermophiles	Defining specifications with thresholds not to exceed when specifying the method
Measure the quantity of THT microorganisms	Method CTCPA of counting theTHT.(threshold of detection: 10 spores/g))	Number of spores viable by category : - THT aerobic - THT anaerobic	More specific method for the THT flora than the normative method
Determine the presence of a THT microorganism	Method of research of THT (threshold of detection: 1 spore/g)	Presence / absence	Identify the origin of the contamination and putting into place corrective actions
Identify the microorganism responsible for the instability	CTCPA tool of rapid identification SporeTraq® by molecular biology	Detection of thermo-resistant species among the genres Bacillus, Clostridium,Geobacillus, Moorella,Thermoanaerobacterium / Thermoanaerobacter	Rapid method covering more than 90% of non stabilized cases at 55°C for canned foods
Identifying the species of THT  present all along the fabrication process	Method of typing of THT in order to differentiate the species between them(Thesis – end 2013)	A genetic comparison of species by molecular biology of Moorella thermoacetica, Geobacillus stearothermophilus	Developing a method which will allow to tie the source of contamination to the product, and put into place corrective actions.

Examples of research projects :

• DENOSPORE – Rapid counting of sporulated bacteria (2002 – 2011)
• SporeTraQTM – Rapid identification of altering germs in the case of non-stability (2006 – 2011)
• DIVERSITHER – Diversity of thermophilic sporulated bacteria for different branches of canned food companies (2010 – 2012)
• PRESTACYF – Rapid prevision of the stability of canned goods by flow cytometry  (2011 – 2013)