MacConkey Agar (MAC), (10-Pack), Pre-Poured, 15x100mm Petri Plates. Industry Use: Food Safety. for Dectection of E. Coli, Shigella, Salmonella.

We're using these to pre-test our 5-yo Doberman's urine for e-coli after she nearly died from an undiagnosed e-coli UTI in mid-2022. She gave no indications of illness until the infection became systemic and she crashed. Emergency care & hospitalization was able to stabilize her but she required blood transfusions, IV fluids, stomach feeding tube and a range of antibiotics to simply maintain her status until the lab cultures came back. After 3 days being near death & hospitalization the lab results came back with a definitive result for e-coli, the ER vets were able to medicate her with the correct antibiotics. Within 12 hours of the correct IV antibiotic administration she was 70% back to her normal self. 36 hours after the initial IV antibiotic she came home and has fully recovered. However, she is a very strong and stoic type and doesn't display symptoms or behaviors like most female dogs when she has a UTI. So we decided that I would set up a small, secure home lab to periodically culture her urine using MacConkey media, an incubator, digital PWM thermal controller and various other tools in an attempt to identify a problem before it becomes life threatening. After researching the process and best practices from Texas A&M's, Oklahoma State's and Penn State's veterinary colleges, we have successfully tested her using these MacConkey plates three different times. Each time we incubate a sample from her and a control sample from her fecal matter --- a guaranteed source of e-coli and other gram-negative bacteria for comparison. Each time the Control sample shows colony growth at the 12-hour point, and continues to grow for the entire 96-hour period. The actual urine-derived sample that is incubated simultaneously has shown zero growth for the same 96-hour period. This is the best result, urine is naturally sterile. The entire setup, including these MacConkey plates cost less than $150 to set up, not including a microscope. Compared to the cost of each veterinary urine culture lab test of $250+ or a $20k veterinary hospital bill, $150 and some time researching how to perform these simple tests is a pittance. **One of the benefits of using this agar is that a microscope is not necessary to confirm the presence of gram-negative bacteria, which can help your vet begin treatment while a true diagnostic culture is performed at a lab.** If you do not observe bacterial colony growth does not mean there isn't a bacterial infection, it may be a gram-positive bacterial or something that will not culture well on MacConkey. But we use this as an early warning that Freyja may have a problem that she can't tell us about.

Nothing grew, even the bread mold test. The mold stayed on the bread and would not spread to the “agar.” The other dishes in my incubator cultivated.

Thank goodness for surplus as I could modify the experiment to use the remaining 7 plates as 3 plates arrived contaminated as seen in pic. I have used the remaining 7 and will report back on how well E. Coli grew on this agar. The 7 I used were in good condition w/o defects.

Ordered 07/09/2022, Received 07/10/2022. Expiration date of 07/07/2022!!!! Can't even exchange it because of my science project due date. Ridiculous.

Great for growing bacteria, our colonies are very happy. We have received some damaged plates in the past, but nothing major or worth complaining about. The agar is poured correctly and the expiration date is accurate. We have gotten life out of them 1-2 months following expiration.