There are many methods for detecting and counting coliform bacteria, escherichia coli and faecal coliforms. It is possible to group these methods mainly in three groups:

·         Most Likely Number (EMS) method using liquid medium

·         Methods used in solid media

·         Membrane filtration methods

Modification studies are in progress to provide more accurate, faster and easier results for these traditional methods. In addition, rapid analysis methods, which are specific to total coliforms, are also applied.

The most probable number (EMS) method is preferred for detecting coliform group bacteria in domestic and foreign standard analysis methods. Coliform bacteria and fecal coliform bacteria are detected on 7251 day and escherichia coli bacteria are detected on 4 day with the method described in TS ISO 6 standard. Escherichia coli bacteria are detected in the 10 day (FDA BAM - Food and Drug Administration, Bacteriological Analytical Manual) by the method developed by the American Food and Drug Administration. This method used by the FDA is the previous analysis method used by ISO.

Turkish Food Codex Regulation on Microbiological Criteria was published by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in 2011. This regulation describes the microbiological criteria of foodstuffs and the rules to be complied with by manufacturers. The laboratories carry out the test and analysis studies in accordance with these guidelines.

In authorized laboratories, within the scope of microbiological analysis, FDA BAM and EMS methods coliform, fecal coliform, e. coli determination is being done. The standard used in these studies is as follows:

• TS ISO 7251 Microbiology of food and animal feed - Horizontal method for identification and enumeration of possible escherichia coli - Most probable number technique