Coliforms are gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, non-spore forming bacteria and commonly found in animal intestines and soil. The term “coliform” refers to enteric bacteria found in food stuff such as meat, shellfish, dairy products, other foods and in particular water.
Bacteria such as Shigella, Salmonella, Yersinia, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, and Enterobacter are all coliforms, but the most recognized coliform is Escherichia coli. Testing for the presence of coliform is important in the food industry especially in monitoring water quality.
Advantages of using CompactDry CF to test for coliforms in food and beverages.
CompactDry CF is a ready to use dehydrated media plate used to detect coliform bacteria in food and beverages. Coliform bacteria are an indicator of the presence of enteric pathogens in water, meat, seafood, dairy and other foods.
Monitoring and identification of coliforms is used at each step of the food production process as a quality control parameter. The CompactDry CF selective media contains the chromogenic enzyme substrate X-Gal which result in a blue to blue/green colonies. CompactDry CF enables easy culture and coliform count in solid food stuff (homogenized with buffer solution), water/liquid samples and swab based environmental testing for surfaces and production areas.
