One-hundred grams of fresh tomatoes were placed in a stomacher and blended for 45 seconds. A 1 mL sample of blended tomatoes was placed in tube containing 9 mL of Trypticase Soy Broth, and incubated at 37C for 24 hours. After the incubation period, 1 L and 10 L loops were used to streak two separate TSA plates in order to enumerate the microbial load of tomatoes.
The inoculated plates were incubated for 24 hours at 37C. After the second incubation period, a microbiologist manually counted 17 and 210 colonies, respectively. Calculate the average microbial load in fresh tomatoes. Report the microbial load as cfu/g. Show your work.