Easy Plate EC certified by AOAC, MiroVal and NordVal was presented at IAFP 2024. The poster is now available for download (PDF).
Daiki Utsunomiya 1, Suzanne J. Jordan 2, Kentaro Takenaka 3, Mai Shimizu 3, Takeo Suzuki 3 and Shinichiro Sugiura 1
(1) Kikkoman Biochemifa Company, (2) Campden BRI, (3) Kikkoman Corporation
Abstract
Introduction
Ready to use (RTU) media offers many advantages to the end user including less preparation and ease of use as well as being more sustainable. Easy Plate EC (Kikkoman Biochemifa Company) is a RTU device to enumerate E. coli and coliforms with greater selectivity compared to the traditional TBX and VRBLA.
Purpose: To compare the performance of the RTU device to those of ISO 16140-2: 2016 and ISO 4832:2006 for the enumeration of E. coli and coliforms in a broad range of foods, pet foods and environmental samples following the ISO 16140-2 validation protocol.
Method
This study evaluated the specificity, selectivity, repeatability, accuracy and relative trueness of the RTU device as required by ISO 16140-2. During the study, 630 food samples were analyzed across seven categories; dairy products, fishery products, produce and fruits, meat and poultry products, multicomponent food, pet foods and environmental samples. All samples were tested according to the manufacturer’s instructions, ISO 16649-2:2001 and ISO 4832:2006.
Results
Results from the study revealed good agreement between the RTU device and the reference method for both target organisms across the 210 samples analyzed in the relative trueness(Correlation coefficients are 0.984 for E. coli and 0.979 for coliforms). In the accuracy profile study, all seven categories tested satisfied the 0.5 log acceptability limit or the recalculated acceptability limits. Data also indicated that the RTU device was more selective and specific, differentiating more target and non-target organisms than TBX and VRBLA. The RTU device gives comparative results to the reference methods ISO 16649-2:2001 and ISO 4832:2006 for a broad range of foods, pet foods and environmental samples. This RTU device is a convenient alternative for the enumeration of E. coli and coliforms.
Significance
The RTU device gives comparative results to the reference methods ISO 16649-2:2001 and ISO 4832:2006 for a broad range of foods, pet foods and environmental samples. This RTU device is a convenient alternative for the enumeration of E. coli and coliforms.
