Total Viable Count (TVC), also known as (ACC) gives a quantitative idea about the presence of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and mold in a sample. To be specific, the count actually represents the number of colony forming units (cfu) per g (or per ml) of the sample.
A TVC is achieved by plating dilutions of the culture until 30-300 colonies exist on a single plate.
A high TVC count is usually attributable to poor quality.
In Food Microbiology is used as a benchmark for the evaluation of the shelf-life of foodstuffs. Its scope is as an assessment tool rather than focus towards a specific organism.
References
Total Viable Count Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA