Chromogenic Coliform Agar (CCA)

Chromogenic agar for detecting and differentiating E. coli and coliform bacteria count in water samples as per ISO 9308-1

Escherichia coli and other coliform bacteria are organisms commonly used to indicate the quality of water or hygiene in food production. The development of chromogenic nutrient media has enabled both pathogens to be differentiated by colour in a single sample.

Chromogenic Coliform Agar is a ready-to-use, selective agar for detecting and determining the bacteria count of E. coli and coliform bacteria in water samples with low background bacterial flora as per ISO 9308-1 and the new German Drinking Water Ordinance (TrinkwV).

Two different chromogenic substrates are already incorporated into the medium for the colour-based differentiation of coliform and E. coli bacteria. These are split by bacteria-specific enzymes during incubation, thereby creating colour complexes. Coliform colonies turn a pink-red colour, while E. coli turn dark blue-violet which makes it easy to distinguish the two.