Easygel (previously available as Redigel from 3M) replaces agar in microbiological media. This ingenious culture media uses pectin (the agent that puts the gel in jelly and jams) and not seaweed derived agar as a gelling agent. It comes as a sterile 2-part test unit consisting of a bottle of liquid medium and a petri dish that is pretreated with a special formulation.

 

Here’s how it works: When the bottle of liquid medium is poured into the pretreated petri dish, ions diffuse from the pretreatment layer into the liquid causing it to gel. Complete gelling takes around 40 minutes. The result is an instant, hassle-free petri dish: where you want it and when you want it. Adding inoculum is done by a variety of simple meth­ods (pour plate, streak plate or membrane filter).

 

If desired, the individual bottles can be lined up and samples can be added directly, swirled and poured for rapid large scale testing. With Easygel, you spend less time preparing and more time performing. Easygel Standard Plate Count and Violet Red Bile are Official AOAC methods and are APHA approved for food, dairy and beverage testing. In addition, both were issued approval at the most recent NCIMS meeting (Proposals 227 and 229), pending further review by the Laboratory Committee, for inclusion in the FDA Milk Laboratory Evaluation Form 2400.