New ASTM Standard Ensures Reliable HPC Testing

IDEXX EasyDisc® Tests for HPC in Water published as ASTM International Standard

IDEXX, the global expert in water microbiology, has announced that its EasyDisc® PCA, YEA and R2A tests, for the for the detection of heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) in water, have been published by ASTM International as the ‘ASTM D8516-23: Standard Test Method for Quantification of Culturable Waterborne Bacteria Using a Defined Culture Medium Coated Plate’. ASTM International is an international organisation that develops and publishes standards applicable to a wide variety of industries. There are over 12,500 global ASTM standards, developed and reviewed by over 30,000 technical experts from more than 140 participating countries.

IDEXX launched EasyDisc in 2021, which is a simple solution for HPC testing, needing no agar preparation, and requiring less than one minute of hands-on time to process a sample. Post-incubation, blue colonies reduce the ambiguity of results, and colony counting is made easier by the integrated gridlines in the EasyDisc plate. With a 12-month shelf life, EasyDisc reduces the need for repetitive quality control checks and ensures that tests are ready when needed.

EasyDisc formulations cover all categories of HPC testing: PCA and YEA, which correlate with the pour plate method using plate count agar and yeast extract agar respectively, for the testing of drinking and source water; and R2A that is comparable to the pour plate method using Reasoner’s 2 agar for the testing of medical and/or pharmaceutical waters. In 2022, IDEXX expanded the EasyDisc platform with the DEV test, designed to correlate with the German Drinking Water Directive (TrinkwV), §15(1c).

This publication as a standard follows EasyDisc YEA test being validated and certified by the French standards organisation, AFNOR, with 'NF Validation' for the enumeration of cultural micro-organisms in water for human consumption (drinking water) under reference IDX 33/09-03/22.

EasyDisc complements other innovative water testing methods from IDEXX, which include liquid culture methods for the rapid enumeration of E. coli and coliform bacteria, as well as detection methods for enterococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Legionella pneumophila. More recently, IDEXX has introduced Tecta® for fully automated water microbiology testing.

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