Designed and developed for sanitation verification, product shelf life monitoring, and to be early warning of pathogen risks, Peel Plate Microbial tests are simplified alternatives to conventional microbiological testing.

Peel Plates use gold-standard method formulation and procedures and are available for targeting a variety of bacterial indicators to supplement most food safety programs. The tests and indicator results can be documented, recorded, and proactively reacted to in your effective food safety and consumer protection programs.

Validated food matrices include dairy products, meat, produce rinses, water, and food environmental monitoring. With Peel Plate, you receive the same trusted results without the media prep time and labor. In addition, Peel Plates use an easy to interpret color development to determine bacterial growth, rather than a more subjective gas production of some other methods.

Each single-use microbial test contains prepared media in a shallow dish with an adhesive top cover. To plate a food or water sample, peel up the adhesive to expose the media, pipette into the center of the plate, watch the sample wick and spread into the media. The test gels solidify within 10 seconds (30 seconds for High Volume test). Plates are designed for uniform heat and air flow and with an air space above growth to allow opening and picking of growth for additional microbiological procedures and identification.

Peel Plate certifications and acceptances include Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC), and Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) and MicroVal on select plates and foods. MicroVal is a European-based validation body that certifies according to International Standards Organization (ISO) reference standards.

The Enterobacteriaceae bacteria are a family of gram-negative bacteria encompassing coliform, E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella, and Yersinia. These bacteria indicate unsanitary conditions in raw products and are killed by heat steps in food processing. EB testing is used as a post-production verification of process and pathogen risk used, for example, to test dry milk powder and infant formula. EB is regulated globally, similar to coliform/E. coli regulations in the US, to verify sanitation processes in food production. Charm’s Peel Plate EB is one of the first microbial tests to be certified under a harmonized MicroVal and AOAC-OMA (Official Methods of Analysis) process. Incubation 24 to 48 hours at 37°C produce multiple colored round growth spots that are all recorded as EB. High Volume plates using 5mL samples are available.

Peel Plate AC Bacterial Test

AC tests use traditional standard plate count formulation with red producing TTC enzyme substrate. Aerobic bacteria produce red spots that are quantified over the 24-48 hour incubation at 32 ± 1°C for 48± 3 hours for dairy products, or at 35 ± 1°C for foods and environmental sponge samples. Each spot represents 1 CFU. The sum of spots is reported as the CFU/mL or CFU/gram per dilution tested.

Peel Plate CC Bacterial Test

CC (Coliform) use conventional coliform media with color producing enzyme substrates and a 24 hour incubation at 32° C and produces red colonies.

Peel Plate EB Bacterial Test

EB (Enterobacteriaceae) use a conventional formulation with 48 hour incubation at 37° C and produces colored colonies.

Peel Plate EC Bacterial Test

EC (E. coli and Coliform) tests use traditional EC media with color producing enzyme substrates and a 24 hour incubation. Coliforms produce easy to interpret red colonies that do not need additional confirmatory steps or difficult to interpret gas production. Most E. coli produce blue/purple colonies. The quantitative method is applicable for determination of total coliform, sum of coliform and E. coli, in dairy products at 32± 1°C incubation. The method will detect E. coli from coliform in ground beef, food, carcass rinses, environmental surface sponge and water samples at 35 ± 1°C incubation. The sum of colonies equals total coliform. Read spots are coliform and bluish-black spots are generic E. coli.

Peel Plate CD Bacterial Tests

Cultured Dairy versions of the CC, EC and EB plates are now available. The CC-CD test detects and enumerates total coliform bacteria in cultured dairy products like sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt and hard cheeses. The EC-CD test detects and enumerates E.coli/coliform bacteria in cultured dairy products. The EB-CD for cultured dairy products test detects and enumerates Enterobacteriaceae bacteria.

Peel Plate YM Bacterial Test

Y&M test use traditional formulation with colonies that are blue, green or gray and quantified at room temperature or at 25 ± 2°C for 3 to 5 days. Each spot represents 1 CFU. The sum of spots is reported as the CFU/mL or CFU/gram per dilution tested.

Peel Plate SA Bacterial Test

SA (Staphylococcus aureus) tests detect and enumerate Staphylococcal bacteria in food, serial dilutions of food, and environmental sponge samples. Sample or sample dilution is added and incubated for 24 to 48 hours at 35-37 ºC. The method sensitivity is greater than 1 colony forming units per milliliter (>1 CFU/mL) of test sample.

Peel Plate HET Bacterial Test

HET (Heterotrophic) are aerobic bacteria that are more associated with water and nutrient-depleted matrices. Peel Plate HET nutrient-depleted media encourages the growth of heterotrophic organisms in water. Incubation at 25°C produces red growth spots within 5 to 7 days. Heterotrophs are used as indicators to assess biofilm build-up and nutrient leaching in water treatment processes. Heterotrophic count uses conventional R2A formulation with red producing TTC enzyme substrate. Heterotrophic bacteria produce red colonies. 

Benefits

• Ready-to-use media – self-wicking, no spreader device required
• 12 month room temperature stability when stored in re-sealable foil zip bag*
• Buffered media formulation for robust performance with neutralizing buffers – pH adjustments not required for most samples
• Convenient plate stacking and built-in air space design for improved air circulation and picking colonies
• Date tracking and analysis available with use of our Peel Plate Colony Counter

*High Volume tests and certified milk labs require refrigerated storage (0 – 4.5°C)

You’ll find valuable instructions for each test under the document tab. Included are:

• Operator Manuals
• Flow Charts
• Interpretation Guide
• Literature Sheets
• Technical Report on Colony Spreaders

• Family Brochure
• General Procedure Flow Chart
• Environmental Sample Interpretation Guide
• Environmental Swabbing Procedure
• Meat Test Flowchart
• Colony Counter Brochure
• Colony Counter - Operator's Manual
• Sample Prep Addendum - Operator's Manual for all Peel Plates
• Test Filtration Procedure Flow Chart
• High Volume Test Brochure
• AC - Operator's Manual
• AC - Interpretation Guide
• CC - Operator's Manual
• CC - CD - Operator's Manual
• CC - CD - HV - Operator's Manual
• CC - Interpretation Guide
• CC - CD - Interpretation Guide
• EB - Operator's Manual
• EB - Interpretation Guide
• EB - HV - Operator's Manual
• EB - CD - Operator's Manual
• EB - CD - Interpretation Guide
• EB - CD - HV - Operator's Manual
• EC - Operator's Manual
• EC - Operator's Manual for Filtered Samples
• EC - HV - Operator's Manual
• EC - Interpretation Guide
• EC - CD - Operator's Manual
• EC - CD - Interpretation Guide
• EC - CD - HV - Operator's Manual
• HET - Operator's Manual
• HET - Interpretation Guide
• SA - Operator's Manual
• SA - Interpretation Guide
• YM - Operator's Manual
• YM - Interpretation Guide
• YM - HV - Operator's Manual