Product Name:
3M Petrifilm E.coli / Coliform Count Plates
In a high throughput food microbiology lab, a common assay is for the presence of E. coli and other coliforms. Using agar plates as a final readout is laborious and expensive. Using Petrifilms cuts down on the labour of producing and plating agar plates. Not to mention that the thickness of a Petrifilm is about 2 mm, compared to about 15 mm for an agar plate. This can translate to a major benefit when storing thousands of samples, especially when Petriflms can be simply tossed into a plastic bag. The spreading of the culture on Petrifilms takes about a second, and involves placing a plastic disk in the centre on the film; compare this to a pedestal and sterile spreader with agar plates. The readout is similar to agar plates and can be done by a technician in seconds.