Easy Plate CC plate for rapid coliform testing | Kikkoman

1. Introduction to the Easy Plate culture plate

- Easy Plate is a convenient ready-prepared culture plate that needs no preparation or sterilisation. Easy Plate is an easy-to-use alternative to preparing culture media in house with traditional culture plates, saving time and effort and reducing waste.

- The Easy Plate CC is a product in the Easy Plate line from Kikkoman (Japan) – a dry medium plate solution designed specifically for the detection and quantification of Coliforms in food, drinking water and related samples.

- Format: a dry culture plate, compact, easy to store and transport.

- Detection principle: colonies of coliform bacteria appear in a clear blue colour thanks to the chromogenic substrate X-Gal.

- The plate is designed as a dry medium sheet that is already set and ready to use immediately, with no need to prepare or sterilise the medium.

2. Specifications of the Easy Plate CC plate for coliform testing

- Product name: Easy Plate CC culture plate

- Product code: 61974

- Application: testing of Coliform Bacteria. The Easy Plate CC has obtained AOAC RI PTM certification (Certificate number: 021401).

- Incubation time: 24 ± 1 hours

- Incubation temperature: 35 ± 1℃

- Storage conditions (unopened): 2 - 8℃

- After opening: After opening the pack, fold the open end of the pack at least twice and seal it with tape. Store in a refrigerator (2 to 8℃) and use within 3 months.

- Shelf life 18 months from the date of manufacture

3. Principle

- The Easy Plate CC contains a dry culture medium with a selective composition developed specifically for Coliforms. When the sample is inoculated onto the plate, the medium dissolves and the target microorganisms grow.

- The colour indicators in the medium make Coliform colonies appear clearly, which makes observation and counting convenient. Results can be assessed directly with the naked eye, with no need for complex equipment.

- Colonies with a light colour are easy to distinguish within 24 hours. Identification and counting are easier than with other media, such as traditional plate count agar, because the colonies are coloured, so there is no need to confirm the presence or absence of gas bubbles or the size of the colonies.

- High correlation with plate count agar across different food types.

- Colour of the plate surface caused by enzymes present in the food: in some unheated foods and dairy products, enzymes remaining in the food can cause a blue colour to develop over the whole incubated area.

4. Key advantages of the Easy Plate CC plate

Compared with the traditional pour plate method, Easy Plate CC offers several outstanding benefits:

- Convenient: no need to prepare or sterilise the medium, just inoculate the sample and incubate.

- Fast: gives quantitative Coliform results after 1–2 days.

- Accurate & reproducible: the medium is standardised and strictly quality controlled by Kikkoman.

- Space saving: dry plate format, stored in the refrigerator, easier to transport than traditional media.

- Safe & user friendly: less plastic waste and fewer chemicals than the usual medium preparation method.

5. Applications

The Easy Plate CC is widely used in many fields:

- Food industry: microbiological control in meat, seafood, milk and dairy products, processed products, fruit and vegetables…

- Drinking water and soft drinks: microbiological quality assessment of purified water, bottled water and sweetened or unsweetened soft drinks.

- Pharmaceutical & cosmetic industry: testing the Coliform count in raw materials and finished products.

- Laboratories and research institutes: used in applied microbiology research.

6. Examples

* Bacterial strains

- Incubation conditions: 35℃, 24 hours (Diluent: phosphate buffer solution).

- These colours are examples only.

* Food sample matrices on the Easy Plate CC Coliform

- Incubation conditions: 35℃, 24 hours (Diluent: phosphate buffer solution).

- These colours are examples only.

PacificLAB is the official distributor of Kikkoman Easy Plate products in Vietnam. Please contact us for a quotation and detailed information about this product.