Analytical opportunities of quantitative polymerase chain reaction in dairy microbiology

Recent developments in molecular methods aid in detecting and quantifying food microorganisms through faster, more sensitive and more specific procedures than classical microbiology techniques. Molecular tools were widely used to detect pathogens in food but yet remain insufficient to directly quantify them in food products. Nevertheless, recent studies show that quantitative PCR (qPCR)-based methods are applied with success in enumerating fermenting microbes and health promoting bacteria in dairy products. The increasing number of sequenced genomes is now a crucial support to designing specific primers and probes. Technological advances in qPCR-based methods including viable quantitative PCR are also highlighted and could be promising strategies for quantifying merely viable cells, detecting multiple microorganisms in a single reaction and constructing high throughput PCR workflows. Application of real-time PCR in the food industry has proven its reliability nevertheless its widespread use in the dairy industry will need technical recommendations and standardisation methods.