Heterotrophic plate count, quantitative [HPC-Q]

Published: July 8th, 2009

Revised: March 21st, 2023

This test measures total culturable bacteria contained in a sample of bulk material, fluid or area-based swab by culturing a measured amount of the sample on Tryptic Soy Agar and incubating at 35 °C for a minimum of 48 hr prior to analysis. At the end of the incubation period, bacterial colonies are counted and reported as Colony Forming Units per gram of material (CFU/g). This test can only be conducted on bulk/ fluid samples, and cannot be used with swab samples unless the swab was collected from a defined surface area.

Laboratory code: HPC-Q

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