Hektoen Enteric Agar

GranuCult^® prime Hektoen Enteric Agar is suitable for the isolation and differentiation ofSalmonella and Shigella from the food chain and other materials.

We offer two media types: the superior granulated GranuCult^® and the cost-efficient powdered NutriSelect^® culture media, depending on your needs. The designations basic, plus, or prime are added to indicate the quality control level, from basic quality control to standard QC plus to prime for full regulatory compliance.

GranuCult^® prime Hektoen Enteric Agar provides good colonial differentiation and inhibits some coliforms and other non-lactose-fermenting bacteria, thereby facilitating the isolation and differentiation of Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. from samples such as food chain and other materials.Lactose-positive colonies have a different color from lactose-negative ones due to the presence of the two indicators for carbohydrate dissimilation: bromothymol blue and acidic fuchsin. The two additional carbohydrates, sucrose (saccharose) and salicin, also cause the color difference in colonies. The black color in the H₂S-positive colonies is due to thiosulfate as a reactive compound with an iron salt as an indicator.This culture medium is moderately to highly selective. The mixture of bile salts suppresses the growth of most of the accompanying microorganisms. The inhibitory effect of bile salts on the growth of Shigella spp. is reduced by relatively large amounts of peptone and carbohydrates, which allow good growth. Agar is the solidifying agent.

Self-prepared plates can be stored in the dark and protected against evaporation:

• acc. to ISO 21567 at (5 ± 3 °C) for up to 2 weeks
• acc. to FDA-BAM at (4 ± 2 °C) for up to 30 days
• acc to Corry et al., (2012) at (5 ± 3 °C) for up to 3 weeks

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

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