Escherichia coli detection using thermal images

摘要

Microbiological contamination detection can require a lengthy process. In the present work, a quick and easy methodology was developed to detect Escherichia coli, using thermal imaging. Escherichia. coli grown on classical LEVINE agar were imaged using a thermal IR camera. A prototype was developed to avoid temperature changes on the surface due to air movement. The prototype which injected heat from the bottom was analyzed thermally to detect relative humidity and temperature changes. The images hadto be taken 15 s after taking the Petri dish from the incubator. The thermal images were processed by counting the pixels per color. A RGB processing algorithm worked better than the grey scale algorithm as yellow and rose could not be discriminated properly. The value was introduced in three equations and a detection success rate of 100% was achieved. The minimum time required for detecting microbial contamination was 5 h.