Coronobacter sakazakii is a gram negative, nonspore-forming bacterium belonging to the Enterobacteriacae family. It has been implicated in outbreaks causing meningitis or enteritis, especially in infants. In a few outbreaks reported 20 to 50% of the infants who contracted the disease died. For survivors, severe lasting complications can result including neurological disorders. The outcome related to adult disease seems to be significantly milder. The infant food industry should be encouraged to reduce the concentration and prevalence of E. sakazakii in both the manufacturing environment and powdered milk formula. To this end, the infant food industry should consider implementing an effective environmental monitoring program and the use of Enterobacteriacae rather than coliform testing as an indicator of hygienic control in factory production lines.

Extracts from WHO Microbial Risk Assessment Feb-2007

Samples to be tested for C. sakazakii are normally milk powder, powdered infant formula and environmental samples.

Results:

C. sakazakii will produce green to blue colonies. Other gram negative bacteria will be inhibited, or produce colorless or light purple/ translucent colonies. Gram positive bacteria will be inhibited.

*EZ-CHROM plates are a Colorex™ product, EZ-CHROM powder is a CHROMagar™ product

Campylobacter bacteria are a major cause of foodborne diarrhoeal illness in humans and are the most common bacteria that cause gastroenteritis worldwide. In developed and developing countries, they cause more cases of diarrhoea than foodborne Salmonella. The high incidence of Campylobacter diarrhoea, as well as its duration and possible sequelae, makes it highly important from a socio-economic perspective. In developing countries, Campylobacter infections in children under the age of two years are especially frequent, sometimes resulting in death.

- World Health Organisation (WHO) – fact sheet No:255

Campylobacter spp. are fastidious bacteria that may be difficult to recover due to suboptimal specimen transport and/or storage conditions and lack of proper culture procedures. Several culture media formulations have been developed, some blood-based other including charcoal. Each of these media have shown to be a mediocre compromise between specificity and sensitivity.

With EZ-CHROM Campylobacter, there are no compromises! This medium allies the highly specific and easy to read chromogenic technology with an unrivalled growth agar base.

*EZ-CHROM plates are a Colorex™ product, EZ-CHROM powder is a CHROMagar™ product

The general food and water standards limits are usually zero to single figure E.coli cfu per gram and thus it is important to detect and enumerate them accurately. With EZ-CHROM E.coli, colonies of E.coli develop with an intense blue color - thus making detection and enumeration of this important hygiene indicator as simple as possible.

The conventional medium for detection of E. coli O157, Sorbitol MacConkey Agar, has poor specificity and therefore creates many false positives (Proteus, E. hermanii, etc.). Sorbitol MacConkey Agar is also difficult to read since the E. coli O157 produces colorless colonies among red colonies.

EZ-CHROM E. coli O157 is a chromogenic medium with easier detection of E. coli O157. EZ-CHROM E. coli O157 is 98% sensitive for E. coli O157. E. coli O157 will produce mauve colonies, all other bacteria will appear as steel blue, colorless or red colonies.

*EZ-CHROM plates are a Colorex™ product, EZ-CHROM powder is a CHROMagar™ product

The Enterobacteriaceae and coliform bacteria within this family represent two of the most common groups of indicator organism used by the food industry. In some countries, depending on regulatory requirements, the food industry has moved towards testing for Enterobacteriaceae.

The ISO 21528 specifies a method for the enumeration of Enterobacteriaceae, applicable to products intended for human consumption, feeding of animals, and environmental samples using VRBG as culture medium.

Unlike with VRBG, with EZ-CHROM Enterobacteria you can easily differentiate E. coli from the rest of Enterobacteriaceae by the color. E. coli will be read as blue with or without a blue halo, all other Enterobacteriaceae will appear as pink or red, and all gram positive bacteria are inhibited.

The intense colored colonies on a clear agar background facilitate the reading, contrary to VRBG where the smoked background allows little contrast.

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogenic bacterium which can cause serious food poisoning. Since L. monocytogenes and L. innocua have similar biochemical properties, they cannot be differentiated on traditional media (PALCAM, Oxford).

On EZ-CHROM Listeria, L. monocytogenes colonies have a specific blue color surrounded by a white opaque halo. The Colorex Listeria method allows detection of negative samples in only 2 days. This method requires only a single half Fraser broth enrichment step.

Confirmation of positive samples can be performed by picking a suspect colony directly from the Colorex™ Listeria plate and transferring it to Colorex™ Identification Listeria giving a next day confirmation that the isolate is indeed L. monocytogenes.

Results:

EZ-CHROM Listeria is 100% sensitive for L. monocytogenes which typically appear as blue colored colonies with convex colony shape, 1.0-2.5mm in diameter with a halo. Blue colonies may appear after 24 hours. Two species of Listeria display blue colonies with halos on EZ-CHROM Listeria Agar, L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii. To differentiate these species you are required to set-up a confirmation plate or run a rapid biochemical identification test strip such as Microgen™ Listeria ID.

Other Listeria species such as Listeria innocua appear as Blue colonies with no halo on EZ-CHROM Listeria Agar

*EZ-CHROM plates are a Colorex™ product, EZ-CHROM powder is a CHROMagar™ product

The recent revision of ISO 6579 for Salmonella testing is a direct result of the growing incidence of lactose positive Salmonella spp. isolated from various cases of food poisoning. Colorex Salmonella Plus agar has been introduced to meet the requirements of ISO 6579 and provides clear, easily visible identification of Salmonella spp. including: lactose positive Salmonella, S. typhi and S. paratyphi.

Meets ISO 6579:2002 requirements by detecting lactose positive Salmonella.

Easy to read with the naked eye: Another feature of this new media resides in its nice colour contrast due to the fact that E.coli are colourless. E.coli , which are usually present in abundance in samples tested for Salmonella and can potentially hide suspect colonies, are no longer a concern.

High Sensitivity and Specificity: Salmonella including S.typhi, S.paratyphi A and lactose positive Salmonella → 99%*

Results:

Colorex Salmonella Plus is 99% sensitive for Salmonella spp. which will appear as mauve colonies. E.coli will produce colorless colonies and Coliforms will be blue colonies.

*EZ-CHROM plates are a Colorex™ product, EZ-CHROM powder is a CHROMagar™ product

An increasing number of recent studies have shown that, non-O157 Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) have been responsible for food poisoning outbreaks. The CDC has also reported warnings about this potential risk. As a result, several regulatory authorities have urged the food industry worldwide to implement measures to ensure the absence of such organisms in their production.

Disease caused by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) ranges from self-limiting diarrhea to hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Serotype O157:H7, the most frequently implicated STEC causing hemorrhagic colitis and HUS, has been isolated from large foodborne outbreaks, as well as sporadic cases, in North America and abroad. However, 60 STEC serotypes have been implicated in diarrheal disease, and several non-O157:H7 serotypes have been implicated as the cause of foodborne outbreaks and HUS in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Studies from Canada, Europe, Argentina, and Australia suggest that non- O157:H7 STEC infections are as prevalent, or more so, than O157:H7 infection.

CDC report Prevalence of Non-O157:H7 Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli in Diarrheal Stool Samples

In many cases laboratories have limited their search for pathogenic E. coli to the common O157 serotype. This is due to the fact that there were no available selective culture media for non-O157 E. coli. EZ-CHROM STEC is designed to fill this gap by producing mauve colonies of not only the classical O157 STEC but also many other STEC serotypes.

Results:

STEC E. coli serotypes will produce mauve colonies. E. coli non-STEC (ATCC 25922) will be inhibited. Other Enterobacteriacae will appear colorless, blue or inhibited; and gram positive bacteria will be inhibited.

*EZ-CHROM plates are a Colorex™ product, EZ-CHROM powder is a CHROMagar™ product