Financial Times

Lankan microbiologist risks career to help consumers

By Quintus Perera

A microbiologist, unable to find a career of his choice despite working in the private sector for the past 14 years, has finally taken the bold and risky step of setting up his own small company to create a product useful to the food industry and even consumers.

H. Don Christopher, who also possesses a Masters degree in Industrial Microbiology, recently combined with his brother to float a company Microbtek Laboratories (Pvt) Ltd (MLL) that would produce microbiological test kits in the form of contact/dip slides in kits designed for onsite use.

The kits are useful to food processors, hospitals and for educational purposes such as A Level students for demonstration of bacterial colonies and also for aquaculture. In food processing services the hygienic conditions in the processing environment could be monitored by the use of the kit. This could also be used in large catering halls, hotels, to

ascertain public hygiene requirements and pharmaceutical industry, Christopher said.

It is user friendly and the results of the exercise would enable the user to measure the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitizing programmes adopted and, depending on the results, the cleaning and sanitizing could be adjusted accordingly.

This is the first attempt by a Sri Lankan individual to come up with a unusual product like this and Christopher sees his investment of some Rs 1 million as risky being unsure of the market potential. The product is yet to hit the market. Christopher plans to submit the product to the Sri Lanka Institute of Standards for certification.

Though food borne diseases often caused by food poisoning are under-reported, they have become a worldwide problem. There are methods of enumerating the bacterial content and density by a simple process which is practiced in some countries but the device is not used in Sri Lanka as they are not imported due to the high cost - until the emergence now of Christopher's product.

The kit consists of a clear plastic container and a white plastic paddle fixed to a white cap. On one side of the paddle is a layer of agar (a chemical) on which the aerobic bacteria will grow.

When testing liquids, the slide is dipped into the liquid and agar layer retains a thin film of liquid containing bacteria and the resulting bacterial growth on the medium is compared with the standard chart provided.

The procedure is (a) to carefully unscrew the cap of the plastic vial avoiding fingers touching the medium on the contact slide, (b) press gently the surface of the medium of the contract slide against the surface to be sampled, (c) if water is to be tested, dip the contact slide in water and immerse for 10 seconds.

Gently shake the slide in order to drain off the excess water, (d) place the tested contact slide in the vial and screw the cap tightly, (e) incubate the contact slide for 18 - 24 hours at room temperature, (f) observe the surface of contact slide for red colonies - each red dot represents a bacterium present on the surface or water sampled, (g) for surface samples, the number of red dot represents the

number of bacteria present on the surface and can be expressed the results as number of bacteria per sq. centimetre and (h) for water sampling, compare the results with the standard chart given.

Except for the bacteriological medium, all other material for the kit is made locally. For this purpose a special mould - to make the vials and the paddles - was locally turned out at a cost of around Rs 500,000.

Since 1990, Christopher has worked at Prima Ceylon Ltd, Bairaha Farms Ltd and Confifi Aqua-culture Ventures (Pvt) Ltd where he continues as Manager. While he was working at Bairaha he invented several products such as Fish Care Blue Antiparasite M and Anti-Louse in the use of controlling external parasites in ornamental fish. He also has published papers in periodicals published by the Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic resources and in the Journal of National Science Council of Sri Lanka.

The containers are in boxes of 10 each. They are sterilized and covered with cellophane.

The device could also be used by hospitals for various testing purposes. Christopher says he may also market separately the vials - commonly used here for blood and other testing purposes and imported so far - because this is the first time they are being produced locally.

The entire kit including vial, paddle and the bacteriological medium is expected to cost Rs 540 excluding VAT compared to a foreign product which costs about $10 (or nearly Rs 1,000)

Christopher is enthusiastic about the project though he realizes it's going to be a long and winding road to success. However he is confident that there would be a good market for this product in the light of consumers expressing serious concern about the safety of all forms of food.

"Manufacturers should also use this device increasingly as those who use it could have an edge over non-users as consumers would be certain of the cleanliness and purity of the food they consume," he told The Sunday Times FT from his office at no. 247/D, Christian Perera Place, Dalugama, Kelaniya.

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