Hycon^® Contact Slides

Contact Slides C are developed for easy and flexible microbiological monitoring of flat and curved surfaces. Each contact slide is individually sealed in the transparent and flexible primary backing film made from PET and provides a rectangular surface of 25 cm². MacConkey Agar is a weak selective medium for the isolation of Enterobacteriaceae or specifically E. coli. Bile salts and crystal violet largely inhibit the growth of the gram-positive microbial flora, whereas the growth of most Gram-negative bacteria is supported. Lactose and the pH indicator neutral red are used to detect lactose degradation. Bacteria degrading lactose to acids grow in pink to red colored colonies. Additionally, Escherichia coli and other acid forming bacteria will show a zone of precipitated bile salt around the colonies. Bacteria not degrading Lactose will grow colorless.

Contact Slides C are designed for the determination of the coliform and E. coli count on dry, sanitized surfaces as well as personnel in controlled clean room environments of production lines, i.e. food and beverages as well as non-sterile and terminally sterilized pharmaceuticals.

HYCON is a registered trademark of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany