Chromogenic coliform agar (CCA) conforms to the ISO 9308-1 guidelines for the detection, enumeration and isolation of coliforms and more specifically Escherichia coli in water samples by the membrane-filtration technique.
The colonial differentiation is provided by the chromogenic substrates, Salmon-GAL and X-glucuronide.
Salmon-GAL is used for the detection of ß-D-galactosidase enzymatic activity.
X-glucuronide is used for the detection of ß-D-glucoronidase enzymatic activity.
β-D-galactosidase, expressed by all coliforms, cleaves the Salmon-GAL substrate and producing red/pink coloured colonies.
Unlike other coliforms, Escherichia coli cleaves both Salmon-GAL and X-glucuronide producing a violet/blue coloured colonies.
Tryptophan is used to increase detection reliability by improving the indole reaction.
The peptones, sodium pyruvate and sorbitol support bacterial growth and simple recovery of sub-lethal thermally injured coliforms.
Sodium di-hydrogen phosphate and di-sodium hydrogen phosphate phosphate buffer the medium and sodium chloride is used to achieve osmotic balance.
The selectivity is attained by the addition of Tergitol® 7 as it inhibits the growth of Gram-positive bacteria.