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Aerobic Plate Count Test

  • Price

    22

  • Turnaround time

    7 - 9 Business Days

  • Rush

    Not Available

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Aerobic Plate Count Test

Technical data sheet

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Method description

Aliquots of the sample are pipetted into a petri dish containing a non-specific nutrient-rich media (Plate Count Agar) and incubated at 35°C under aerobic conditions for 48 hours.

Acceptable matrices

Foods and food ingredients

Unacceptable matrices

Cosmetics, non-food samples, water

Limit of quantitation

Solid food <10 CFU/g Liquid <1 CFU/g. The limit of quantitation can vary based on matrix.

Equipment

Standard Microbiology Equipment

Method reference

AOAC 966.23 Compendium of Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods 4th Edition: Chapter 7 FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual: Chapter 3

Reportable unit

CFU/g, CFU/mL

Sample size requirements

100 g

Information required by submitter

Please supply estimates

Additional information

This assay is used to determine the number of aerobic mesophilic (growth at body temperatures i.e. 35° C) bacteria contained in a food product or ingredient.

*Prices and offerings are subject to change without notice.
Common Aerobic Plate Count Test Testing Questions

The plate count is used to determine the number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria contained in a food product or ingredient.

As bacterial populations vary between different products, no single Aerobic Plate Count is considered standard. Instead, analysts use other benchmarks to assess the safety and hygiene of a sample.

Aliquots of the sample are pipetted into a petri dish containing a non-specific nutrient-rich media (Plate Count Agar) and incubated at 35°C under aerobic conditions for 48 hours.

Counts less than 25 reduce the accuracy during cell count (too few to be representative of a sample), and ones above 250 are likely to produce colonies too close to each other to be distinguished as distinct colony-forming units.

We make every effort to keep our methods and detection limits up to date according to the latest standards and qualifications. If you have any questions regarding the limit of detection/quantification or method references, please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-245-5615.

Our standard turnaround time is 10 business days for most assays. There are some assays that require a longer turnaround time. We also offer a RUSH service that is half the time of the standard turnaround time of the assay at double the cost of the assay. A few assays that we provide cannot be rushed due to the nature of the test. Please check the specific assay you are interested in regarding the ability to RUSH the turnaround time.

The Aerobic Plate Count test determines the amount of aerobic mesophilic bacteria in the food product or ingredient. This does not show whether foodborne pathogens are present.

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Medallion Lab

A food testing program designed with mid-market and enterprise food and ingredient manufacturers in mind.