Various bacteria produce spores as a survival mechanism under adverse conditions. Bacterial spores that are present in foods and ingredients may survive heat processing conditions that are applied for preservation of the finished product. When spores are exposed to conditions that allow for spore germination and outgrowth, spoilage of such products can result in costly product losses, or, in the case of outgrowth of pathogens, consumption of such products may result in food borne illness. Food or food ingredient companies rely on practical and fast microbiological methods to determine the amount of spores that are present in their products for routine risk assessments. The current ISO method aimed at enumeration of especially heat resistant spore in dried milk (ISO/TS27265; 2009) is not routinely applied, as it requires heating at an impractical temperature of 106°C. The efficacy and reliability of alternative methods rely on the actual heat load applied, the ability of the cultivation medium to support growth of all surviving spore species, and on the interpretation of the analytical results. In a collaborative effort of NIZO, Nestlé, BioMérieux, FrieslandCampina, Abbott and USDEC, the options for a practical and reliable spore enumeration method were investigated. In addition, the outcomes of the analyses of spore concentrations in powders were evaluated in relation to spoilage of reconstituted UHT treated milk by highly heat resistant bacterial spores that survived the heat treatment. This applied method involves a heat treatment at 100°C and plating on TSA, which was found to best support the recovery of commonly encountered spore forming species in dairy products. The study provides tools to standardize practical spore tests and enables improved interpretation of spore count test results in relation to spoilage risks of UHT-treated products made from milk powder.