S.F.P. AGAR BASE

Clostridium perfringens food poisoning is one of the common types of human food borne illness. C. perfringens is found in raw meats, poultry, dehydrated soups and sauces, raw vegetables and other foods and food ingredients, but occurrences of foodborne illness are usually associated with cooked meat or poultry products. Spores of some strains that may resist heat during cooking germinate and grow in foods that are not adequately refrigerated. A heat-labile enterotoxin produced only by sporulating cells induces the major symptom of diarrhea in perfringens poisoning. The foods in which conditions are favorable for sporulation may contain enterotoxin. The food poisoning can be diagnosed using quantitative anaerobic cultures to test food and faeces. Enumerating the microorganism in food samples plays a role in the epidemiological investigation of outbreaks of foodborne illness.
Shahidi Ferguson Perfringens (S.F.P.) Agar Base is prepared according to the formulation of Shahidi and Ferguson. Lecithinase and sulphite reactions can be identified on this medium. The medium along with the egg yolk emulsion and the supplement containing kanamycin and polymyxin B as the selective agents give high degree of selectivity for C. perfringens Some strains of C. perfringens may form an opaque zone around the colony due to their lecithinase activity. Lecithinase positive facultative anaerobes may grow on S.F.P. Agar making the plates completely opaque and thus may mask the egg yolk reaction of C. perfringens.

for presumptive identi?cation and enumeration of Clostridium perfringens in foods