Selective agar medium has been approved by Afnor for the 24-hour enumeration of coagulase-positive staphylococci, including Staphylococcus aureus, at 37C in food and environmental samples
Bio-Rad has extended its range of products for the isolation, enumeration and identification of staphylococci to include Rapid'Staph.
This selective agar medium has recently been approved by Afnor, according to the ISO 16140 protocol, for the 24-hour enumeration of coagulase-positive staphylococci, including Staphylococcus aureus, at 37C in food and environmental samples.
Characteristic growth of coagulase-positive staphylococci on Rapid'Staph is shown as grey-black colonies surrounded with a clear halo.
Sulphamethazine prevents high levels of proteus contamination; lithium chloride and potassium tellurite inhibit growth of other bacteria.
The optimised peptone formula improves growth and suits the nutritional demands of staphylococci.
Characteristic colonies on Rapid'Staph can be confirmed either by means of a validated procedure using Bio-Rad's Pastorex Staph Plus latex-agglutination test for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus, or by spot on Baird Parker RPF agar plates, or by means of a rabbit-plasma coagulase test.
Rapid'Staph offers easy reading and enumeration of colonies with a shorter time to result (24 hours) and rapid confirmation, when compared with Baird Parker egg-yolk agar, says Bio-Rad.
It promises a much lower cost, when compared with Baird Parker RPF agar, and easy confirmation, saving time and money, compared with ISO 6888-1.
It is also said to be more selective than Baird Parker egg-yolk agar.
Afnor certification BRD 07/9-02/05, valid until 2009.
