Speed and Accuracy for Food Safety： Boost Lab Performance with Ready-to-Use Media and Automated Colony Analysis

In today's food safety laboratories, efficiency and accuracy are critical, not only to meet regulatory standards but also to prevent costly foodborne illness outbreaks. This webinar introduces practical solutions to reduce media preparation time, minimize human error, and accelerate colony counting in microbiological testing. Whether you work in a food manufacturing QA/QC lab, a third-party testing lab, or a government inspection agency, this session will provide concrete strategies to streamline microbial testing without compromising reliability.

Introduction Summary

Contamination from bacteria, yeasts, and molds remains a leading cause of food product recalls and public health issues. Yet, many labs continue to use outdated or manual testing methods that are slow, labor-intensive, and prone to inconsistency.

This webinar introduces two key innovations:

• Easy Plate: A compact, pre-prepared media plate that eliminates the need for media prep and reduces incubation time
• Automated Colony Counters: AI-driven tools that enable accurate, consistent, and user-independent colony counting

Combined, these tools increase throughput, reduce workload, and help laboratories meet today’s demanding testing schedules with greater efficiency.

Key Topics

The Risk of Microbial Contamination 

Microorganisms in the production environment pose ongoing threats to consumer safety and brand reputation. Traditional agar plates require extensive prep work-media pouring, sterilization, incubation, and post-use autoclaving - which consume valuable time, space, and energy. 

Easy Plate for Simplified Testing

• No media preparation or sterilization needed 
• Incubation completed in just 24-48 hours (depending on sample type)
• Uses 1/20th the volume of a traditional petri dish 
• Minimal storage and waste; compact space is required to store and dispose of items of using the autoclave.

Environmentally Friendly Packaging 

Easy Plate is now packaged in a transparent barrier film instead of traditional aluminum bags. The switch reduces CO2 emissions and power consumption, supporting sustainability goals. 

Challenges in Reading Results- Solved with Automation

Colony appearance varies by media type, making interpretation difficult for non-experts. Automated colony counters, powered by AI, standardize and accelerate analysis, eliminating user bias and reducing interpretation time.

Event Description 

This webinar will explore how the combination of Promedia, Easy Plate, and the Kikkoman Automatic Colony Counter System is revolutionizing microbiological testing. We will discuss the improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and automation offered by this integrated solution, from sample preparation to result interpretation, shaping the future of microbiology laboratories.

Easy Plate 

Save time, labor, and money with Kikkoman Easy Plate. Easy Plate is a convenient, prepared media plates for faster and easier microbiological testing. Using a time-tested and AOAC, MicroVal and NordVal validated culture media methodology, Easy Plate comes in an easy-to-use, stackable film plate format that saves on space, reduces waste, eliminates preparation time and labor, and streamlines your test procedures. Each Easy Plate is specialized for a specific target organism (or group) and includes options for Aerobic Bacteria (AC), Coliforms (CC), E. coli/Coliforms (EC), Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Yeast and Mold(YM-R) and Enterobacteriaceae(EB) and Rapid Type for Aerobic Bacteria (AC-R).

Colony Counting System 

The new solution by Kikkoman Biochemifa Company for colony counting is available. The software “Colony Counting System for Easy Plate” can be downloaded for free. Automatically counts and analyzes the colonies in the imaged Easy Plate. Simpler and time-saving way to count colonies than manual counting advances efficiency and eliminates the effects of variation and skill level among operators.

Speaker 

Mr. Anjas Wilapangga: Senior Analyst PT Kinglab Indonesia 

The Unseen Threat - Mastering Microorganism Control, Elevating Cleaning Standards in the Food Industry

HyServe will be hosting an upcoming webinar as part of the A3 Webinar Series. For full details and registration, please visit the event page at the link below.

Introduction Summary

"The Unseen Threat: Mastering Microorganism Control" addresses the severe public health and financial costs of microbiological contamination in the food industry, where outbreaks can lead to millions of illnesses and devastating economic damage. While regulatory frameworks like HACCP mandate stringent cleaning, the document highlights a critical weakness in standard ATP monitoring. Because the ATP molecule is unstable and degrades into ADP and AMP, conventional tests can produce dangerous false negatives and a misleading sense of security. As a solution, the presentation introduces Kikkoman's A3 Technology, an advanced system that provides unmatched accuracy by detecting the total adenylate picture (ATP, ADP, and AMP). By measuring all three molecules, the A3 method captures a complete and reliable assessment of organic residue, overcoming the limitations of older tests to ensure true cleaning effectiveness.

Key Topics

• The Critical Reality: Microbiological contamination from sources like bacteria, viruses, molds, and parasites represents a primary threat not only to food safety but also to public health. This is not a theoretical risk but a critical reality with severe, measurable and unmeasurable consequences.
• Cost of Contamination: Failures in microbial control lead to costly product recalls, damage to brand reputation, and significant public health crises. Globally, an estimated 600 million people get sick and 420,000 die from contaminated food annually.
• Regulatory Landscape: Stringent hygiene practices are mandated by global and national regulations, with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) being a foundational principle. Enforced by specific laws from bodies like the European Union and the FDA, these regulations require a comprehensive approach to safety. This includes detailed focus on everything from equipment design and sanitation protocols to personnel hygiene, water quality, and waste management to ensure food safety from the ground up.
• Cleaning, Validation, and Verification: The presentation outlines the 7 essential steps of cleaning and sanitizing. It distinguishes between validation (proving a process is effective) and verification (confirming the process is followed correctly), identifying ATP monitoring as a key verification method.
• ATP Monitoring and Its Limitations: ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) is a molecule present in all living things, and its detection is used for hygiene monitoring. However, ATP is unstable and can degrade into ADP and AMP, a process accelerated by heat and cleaning agents. This can lead to false negatives, creating a false sense of security.
• Kikkoman A3 Technology: This system is presented as the future of hygiene monitoring. Unlike standard tests, the A3 system detects the total adenylate picture—ATP, ADP, and AMP. It recycles AMP and ADP back into ATP, which is then measured, providing a more accurate and comprehensive view of organic soiling and reducing false negatives.

Reference 

• Bakke, M., & Suzuki, S. (2018). Development of a Novel Hygiene Monitoring System Based on the Detection of Total Adenylate (ATP+ADP+AMP). Journal of Food Protection, 81(5), 729-737. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-17-432
• Smith, N. W., Sindelar, J. J., & Rankin, S. A. (2024). AMP, ADP, and ATP Concentrations Differentially Affected by Meat Processing, Manufacturing, and Nonmeat Ingredients. Journal of Food Protection. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfp.2024.100346
• Kikkoman Biochemifa Company. (n.d.). ATP rapid hygiene monitoring (ATP test)｜Test kit. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://biochemifa.kikkoman.com/e/kit/product/atp-test/
• Kikkoman Biochemifa Company. (n.d.). What is the Kikkoman ATP Test? Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://biochemifa.kikkoman.com/e/kit/method/atp-test-01/
• Kikkoman Biochemifa Company. (n.d.). Why does ATP need to be measured?. Retrieved July 11, 2025, from https://biochemifa.kikkoman.com/e/kit/method/atp-test-02/

Speaker Information 

 Ms.Maciel, Stella Da Silva Lopes 

Q&A Session

Mr. Padilla Munoz, Jorge Eduardo