Abstract
For the purpose of simplifying the methods for mycological examinations of foods, comparative studies of media for the detection of molds were carried out. To evaluate the growth potentials, a total of 72 media including 21 of conventional ones were tested with spore suspensions of 29 species of mold. After incubation for 3 days at 25°C, the colony size of each strain was measured, and then after incubation for further 4 days, sporulation was estimated. The results demonstrated that growth and good sporulation of all strains were observed in 12 kinds of media tested. These media were further compared in the recovery of molds from 55 food samples. A high recovery of molds was obtained in potato dectrose agar (PDA), 25% glucose-supplemented PDA (PDAG250), 5% glucose-supplemented rose bengal-chloramphenicol agar (RBC; RBC50) and 10% glucose-supplemented RBC (RBC100). PDA and PDAG 250 agars yielded spreading colonies with some molds such as Mucor and Rhizopus by their rapid growths, while RBC50 and RBC100 prevented spreading colonies of these molds, yielding clearly isolated colonies. The latter two media are recommended for routine isolation and enumeration of molds in foodstuffs.
