Simultaneous Enumeration of E.coli and Enterobacteriaceae Using Just a Single Agar Type (validated by Afnor to Iso16140 Standards)

Those organisms commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals have been associated with gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections, and neonatal meningitis. Food poisoning caused by E. coli is usually associated with eating unwashed vegetables and meat contaminated post-slaughter. O157:H7 is further notorious for causing serious and even life-threatening complications like hemolytic-uremic syndrome.

Microbiology specialist AES CHEMUNEX has launched a new, unique product in its range of pre-poured chromogenic media that enable the simultaneous enumeration without any confirmation of E.Coli and Enterobacteriaceae. This method provides enumeration of both E.coli and Enterobacteriaceae in 24 hours using just one single plate and without any confirmation (Standard methods recommend the use of up to two plates per dilution and per organism with confirmation of the presumptive positives).

Recently validated and approved by AFNOR to ISO 16140 standard REBECCA™ method can be used with food and animal feed. The procedure is carried out in just two steps – plating and reading – and requires no confirmation or specialised equipment. REBECCA™ method can be used for single enumeration of E.Coli or simultaneous enumeration of E.coli and Enterobacteriaceae using a single plate.

After a 24 hours incubation step, E.Coli will appear as blue colonies and the other Enterobacteria will appear as pink to red due to a specific chromogenic substrate.

This simple AFNOR validated method offers significant workload and cost savings compared to standard culture methods. The AES CHEMUNEX REBECCAâ„¢ method is, therefore, extremely valuable to food testing laboratories where a quick and accurate result is required. In addition, the fact that technicians only have to use a single plate for a simultaneous enumeration of E.coli and Enterobacteriaceae minimizes media consumption, workload, handling, saves on lab space and reduces the volume of waste and the cost of the analysis.