Recently, the American Publisher NOVA published The Handbook of Food Microbiological Analytical Methods written by Dr. Ismail Mohamed Al Bulushi, an Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at Sultan Qaboos University. The book contains five main chapters in addition to the index and appendixes.

The first chapter deals with the basic microbial skills such as randomizing the selection technique of microbial colonies for identification and thin layer agar technique for dealing with injured cells affected by different food preservation methods. The second chapter focuses on the enumeration techniques of different microbial groups such as marine bacteria, Gram-positive bacteria, hydrogen sulfides producing bacteria and lactic acid bacteria. The third chapter provides the standard techniques for enumeration of food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria, Vibrio and Bacillus. Chapter four brings the common techniques in microbial identification such as VITEK 2 compact and 16s RNA gene sequencing. The final chapter includes methods of microbial activities determination such as antimicrobial activity determination, capability of proteins and lipids deterioration and biogenic amines formation ability such as histamine formation.

Dr. Ismail Al Bulushi said that compared with other books in this field, this is the first book to include new techniques in Gram-positive bacterial enumeration, randomization of the microbial colonies and studying microbial capabilities to spoil foods. “Unlike other books, this book explains these microbial techniques simply and easily so that it could be the main reference for students, researchers and academics in the schools, institutions, colleges and universities”, he said.