Citizen Science Water Testing - E coli bacteria

A helpful "how to" video for testing water in your local community or as part of a stream monitoring network. See www.oznet.ksu.edu/kswater for more information and for where to order test kit supplies. We would like to thank and acknowledge our funding sources; EPA and KDHE for their support

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• testing
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[bubmister]

Do you have to incubate these?

According to your video you say you can let them sit at room temperature, but all the Petrifilm websites say you incubate?

[Gooseroot]

The recommended practice is to incubate at around 90 to 93 degrees F. However, we did a statistical comparison using the incubator, room temperature, and a commercial E. coli testing lab, and all three methods correlated well. Thus, we feel ok recommending "room temperature" incubation. It takes a little longer for colonies to grow, however (3 days instead of 1 or 2)

[Gooseroot]

The company that makes these, 3M, also makes a "swab" that can be used to wipe surfaces, including meat, tomatoes, etc....and then the swab is rinsed in 1 ml of a solution (provided with the swab) and it is then cultured. See our website for 3M contact info and order details.

[Gooseroot]

These are used in the food industry with liquids, like milk, etc. For a solid food, you would need to liquefy it somehow (like in a blender), or for some foods, like lettuce, you can "wash" the lettuce, and then test the wash water. Need to start with clean, distilled water of course, and run a control.

[ilovemytiger14]

where can you get that at

[spewproductions]

How would you measure bacteria on spoiled food???