Clostridium perfringens is involved in both food poisoning and animal infections. CHROMagar™ C.perfringens allows for the detection and numeration of C. perfringens  in food and water samples.

Specific and selective, colonies of C. perfringens appear orange and also fluorescent under UV light at 365nm, any other microorganisms being blue, metallic blue or are inhibited from growing.

One drawback of TSC medium that is often used for C. perfingens is that bacteria have to be placed between two layers of agar in order to grow as black colonies. Also, this medium will make any sulfate-reducing bacteria, including the non pathogens appear as black colonies. Moreover, there is tendency for the black colonies to spread, making colony counting difficult.

However, CHROMagar™ C.perfringens can be used with either pouring or surface methods (by direct streaking, spreading or with the filtration technique), the medium is specific for C.perfringens and the orange coloration makes the visualization very easy.