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- In direct kefir: the quality of fermented milk products will be assessed by the photo
In direct kefir: the quality of fermented milk products will be assessed by the photo
Russia's first mobile lactic acid bacteria monitoring system has been created in St. Petersburg. The new solution will help to control the quality of fermented milk products right during production. To do this, take a picture of the product sample, which has a special color indicator added. No special knowledge is required to work with the system, and thanks to its mobility, lactic acid bacteria can be studied not only in the laboratory. However, experts interviewed by Izvestia noted that in order to successfully bring the project to market, developers need to solve a number of other tasks.
Microbiological laboratory in a smartphone
Scientists at the ITMO University Scientific and Educational Center for Infochemistry have developed Russia's first smartphone-based system that evaluates the growth of lactic acid bacteria from the group of thermophilic streptococcus (Streptococcus thermophilus) from a photograph. It will help to quickly assess microbiological indicators, especially in those laboratories where there is no specialized equipment for this, the developers told Izvestia.
— During the growth of thermophilic streptococcus, the acidity of the medium gradually changes, and this is visually manifested in a change in the color of the indicator added to the sample. The user takes a photo of a Petri dish with bacteria on his smartphone, and then uploads the photo to our Telegram bot," said Olga Osmak, one of the authors of the study, an engineer at the ITMO Scientific and Educational Center for Infochemistry.
A color analysis algorithm using a hexadecimal color code automatically detects the contour of a Petri dish and removes background and noise. Next, it calculates the average color values of the uploaded image and compares them with the previously constructed color gradient of 25 reference images that are stored in a local database. After a few seconds, the system outputs the acidity value with an accuracy of 0.01 units, the specialist said.
Lactic acid bacteria are indispensable in the pharmaceutical and food industries, the scientists noted. During fermentation, they produce lactic acid, which is used in the production of yoghurts, cheeses and other fermented dairy products, and also serves as a natural preservative for many foods. In addition, lactic acid is a part of creams, serums and other cosmetics.
To ensure stable product quality, it is important to control the processes associated with the formation of lactic acid and the activity of lactic acid bacteria. As a rule, such studies are carried out using titrimetry, gas or high-performance liquid chromatography. These methods require specialized laboratory equipment and facilities. Biosensors can be an alternative, but most of them are focused on detecting pathogenic microorganisms and are not intended for the analysis of lactic acid cultures.
The main advantage of the new technology is the ability to track the growth of lactic acid bacteria during their preparation for the production process. Such a system allows you to control the input parameters of the crop before it is introduced into the production line, thereby ensuring the stability and reproducibility of the final fermented milk product in small-scale production. The system is also suitable for school microbiology experiments. Students can plant bacteria in Petri dishes and use their smartphone and Telegram bot to study the process of lactic acid fermentation and lactic acid production. The ease of use makes the monitoring system accessible to users without special training, the developers told Izvestia.
Where the program will find application
In the future, the developed system will help to monitor oral hygiene. Pathogenic bacteria of the Streptococcus mutans group are one of the causes of caries. They produce lactic acid, which leads to a decrease in the acidity of the environment, as a result, the enamel of the teeth is destroyed. To find out the condition of the oral cavity, you can apply a special gel to your teeth and take a picture of it on your smartphone, and the system will determine the acidity.
ITMO scientists are going to expand the functionality of the system. She is currently analyzing the growth of thermophilic streptococcus in the presence of bromocresol purpura, an acid—base indicator that allows monitoring changes in the acidity of the medium. However, the development can be adapted to other cultures or strains of lactic acid bacteria and acid-base indicators, such as bromothymol blue.
In addition, there are plans to add pinpoint focusing if the researcher needs to analyze a specific area of the sample in a Petri dish, as well as automatic detection of the stage of growth of lactic acid bacteria and the amount of lactic acid produced. The latest improvement will allow us to learn how bacteria grow and acidity changes, as well as regulate product quality during the manufacturing process. To prepare these functions, the ITMO team has already conducted a series of laboratory experiments using spectrophotometry and created a database of changes in the optical density of bacterial cultures.
The development of ITMO scientists is important for quality control of fermented dairy products, many tools of this nature are very expensive, measurements require significant time, highly specialized laboratory equipment and trained highly qualified personnel. And the introduction of simpler approaches to detecting and determining acidity into the practice of routine analysis (including out-of-laboratory research) is of great interest, the head of the Smart Supply Chain segment of the FoodNet working group told Izvestia NTI Sergey Kosogor.
"Detecting deviations in the activity of lactic acid bacteria will quickly signal the quality of the supplied milk, which can be used by both the farming community and large enterprises," he said.
The solution itself is very interesting, optical and other non-destructive methods of chemical analysis are the future, said a leading expert on the FoodNet market NTI economist Alexey Cook. However, using the product involves a number of difficulties.
— If there is a camera and an application, why not just give the result by pointing, or at least just by taking a photo, without forcing the user to upload it somewhere, and give him the result in a convenient form (for example, by applying data to the photo, along with the date and time and other auxiliary data)? The market is also not completely clear. Several hypotheses have been made where this could be useful. But it is unclear whether a more detailed market assessment has been carried out," he said.
The study was published in the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry and supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.
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