Aerobic Plate Count Testing

Aerobic plate count (APC) is reported as an estimated number of microorganisms in per gram or milliliter of the sample under certain conditions (aerobic conditions, nutrient conditions, pH, culture temperature, and time). Generally, it is an important reference index for the sanitary quality and safety evaluation of sample, which reflects whether the sample meets hygiene requirements during the production and facilitates proper hygienic assessment of tested sample. The method of APC mainly includes the following steps:

The method of APC is suitable for detecting the number of mesophilic and aerobic colonies on the nutrient medium. It does not apply to the counting of anaerobic bacteria.

Advantages of APC

• It can be used to measure the number of living bacteria in the sample and truly reflect the health status of food;

• Even if the sample contains very few bacteria, it can be detected;

• This method can provide information that cannot be obtained by other methods (microscopic counting method and photoelectric turbidimetric method);

• High repeatability of the experiment;

It is used in many fields, such as environmental monitoring, food, beverage industry, cosmetics, pharmaceutical industry quality control and electronic industry etc.

Food

Food (milk, bean dregs, chicken, pork, etc.) is the fundamental materials of human survival and development. Food safety is closely related to human health, national economy and people's livelihood. Food contamination affects public health seriously, which is caused by food spoilage bacteria and pathogenic bacteria. Once the pathogenic bacteria exceed a certain limit, the food may become dangerous to consume and cause unwanted health threats. Therefore, it is very necessary to do APC.

Environmental

The method of APC can be used for environmental pollution assessment, such as water source, soil, etc. It is mainly used to determine the degree and quality of the sample contaminated by bacteria and it reflects whether the sample meets the hygienic requirements, so as to make appropriate hygienic evaluation for the sample tested.

Beverage

As a kind of liquid food, beverages (pure water, mineral water, fruit juice, etc.) are often used to supplement the body's moisture. This determines the consistency of the effects of beverages and drinking water on human physiological functions. Therefore, the beverage is usually required by the hygienic standard of drinking water in food regulations. In the production process, beverages often produce a variety of microbial contamination due to the non-thoroughness of disinfection and sterilization of raw materials, equipment and containers, which can cause intestinal diseases such as enteritis, dysentery and cholera after eating. On the other hand, it is suitable for bacteria to grow and reproduce because of its rich nutrients, easily causing deterioration of beverages. Therefore, in the inspection of beverages, the APC is the main index with a higher standard than the general food.

Cosmetics

Many people do not realize that cosmetics are not only beneficial to the skin, but also a good place for the growth and reproduction of microorganisms. Excessive bacteria and fungi can destroy the quality of cosmetics, such as distributing stinky smell, destroying cosmetics and making them layered, changing the color, producing toxins of pathogenic bacteria and causing skin itching and serious infection. APC is commonly used to detect microorganisms in cosmetics to ensure the safety.

Pharmaceutical

The method of APC can also be used for pharmaceutical industry. It can provide standards or guidance for drug production to ensure the safe use of drugs.

Alfa Chemistry is mainly engaged in the APC of food with a dedicated testing team. With a wealth of testing experience and theoretical knowledge, our experts and chemists have been implementing a wide variety of APC with a fast turnaround time. Welcome to contact us for more information.