Evaluation of the dry sheet medium (Compact Dry ETB(R)) for enumerating Enterobacteriaceae in meat samples

Compact Dry ETB(R) (CD-ETB, ETB; Enterobacteriaceae) , a ready-to-use and self-diffusible dry medium sheet culture system for the detection and enumeration of Enterobacteriaceae, was evaluated. A total of 35 Enterobacteriaceae strains, which were studied for the inclusivity study, grew and formed red-purple colored colonies on the CD-ETB(R). When 17 gram-negative bacteria other than Enterobacteriaceae were inoculated for the exclusivity study, 2 strains grew and formed red-purple colonies, 9 strains formed colorless colonies, and 6 strains failed to grow. A total of 43 gram-positive bacteria and 3 yeasts failed to grow. The CD-ETB method was compared with the Violet Red Bile Glucose (VRBG) agar method according to ISO 21528-2 and the 3M Petrifilm(TM) EB (3M-EB(R)) method in 53 meat samples. The correlation coefficients between CD-ETB(R) and VRBG agar, CD-ETB(R) and 3M-EB(R), and 3M-EB(R) and VRBG agar were 0.962, 0.992 and 0.960, respectively.