Comparison of Brands of Media for Isolating Bacteria from Poultry, Beef and Shrimp

Abstract

Five brands of media (BBL, Difco, Gibco, Oxoid and Scott) were evaluated for enumerating microorganisms by the aerobic plate count and by Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, and coliform counts, and for determining Salmonella incidence. Microbiological evaluations were done on raw chickens, raw beef and raw shrimp, except that Salmonella incidence was not determined on shrimp samples. There were statistically significant differences in total plate counts (with chicken, beef and shrimp), Enterobacteriaceae counts (with shrimp) coliforms (with chicken) and E. coli counts (with chicken) by the five brands of media, but these differences were too small to be of practical significance. It was concluded that no differences of practical significance were found among the five brands of media.