Merck's Complete Medium for ISO 16649-1 Resuscitation of Sublethally Injured E. coli

Legally required: E. coli resuscitation
Since January 1, 2006, European regulation on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs references the ISO standard 16649 as mandatory for the detection of E. coli in certain foods. Part 1 of this standard describes a membrane method that includes a resuscitation step for E. coli. This step is necessary when the food has undergone processes such as heating, drying, chemical preservation, freeze-drying, or acidification, since these treatments can damage and injure any bacteria present. Using the standard detection medium for E. coli, i.e. TBX agar, with its high amount of selective substances and high incubation temperature of 44°C without resuscitation, it is possible to get false negative results as injured E. coli are unable grow reliably. This is also true for raw materials subjected to processing.

Reliable and safe: ISO-compliant MMGA from Merck
To minimize risk, the ISO standard recommends the use of MMGA for this recovery step. For your convenience, the MMGA medium from Merck offers a unique combination of glutamate, selected minerals and agar, ensuring a very rapid and effective resuscitation of injured E. coli. With our product, most of the bacteria are sufficiently repaired after incubation of only 4 hours at 37°C, so that reliable growth on ChromoCult® TBX agar at 44°C is guaranteed.

As usual, Merck's MMGA medium is provided in granulated form in order to increase safety in your laboratory. This drastically diminishes dust development and minimizes the risk to lab personnel of inhaling potentially hazardous substances.

Complete medium for resuscitation
Only MMGA from Merck contains everything you need for resuscitation of sublethally injured E. coli according to ISO 16649-1. If food business operators use, for example, DEV glutamate broth to prepare the MMGA, the agar still needs to be added. Other media even require the addition of a glutamate solution. Containing glutamate, minerals, and agar, MMGA from Merck is the complete and ready-to-use solution.

TBX agar (44°C) without resuscitation on MMGA

TBX agar (44°C) with resuscitation on MMGA