3M Food Safety announced its 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plates have received AFNOR Certification by NF VALIDATION (Certificate Reference No. 3M 01/17 – 11/16). The 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plates had previously received validation through the AOAC Performance Tested MethodsSM and AOAC Official Methods of AnalysisSM programs.

The validation for the 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plates certifies that the plates are equivalent to or better than the reference method when it comes to enumerating aerobic microorganism levels in dairy products.

The 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plate detects and accurately enumerates aerobic bacteria in just one day for most food matrices and environmental samples. The technology, released in 2015, uses proprietary indicator technology to facilitate efficient counting of aerobic bacteria colonies, helping food companies maximize worker productivity, make intelligent cleaning decisions and improve the quality and safety of their products.

“The Rapid Aerobic Count Plates are sample-ready, which can eliminate the time-consuming, cumbersome step of preparing agar plates,” said Jason Semerad, 3M Food Safety global marketing manager. “The plates are also compatible with the recently updated 3M Petrifilm Plate Reader for consistent, fast and efficient automated reading and recording of results.”

The award-winning 3M Petrifilm technology is also a more sustainable solution, using 75 percent less energy, 79 percent less water, producing 75 percent less greenhouse gases and resulting in 66 percent less waste (by weight and volume) compared to agar methods.

Achieving AFNOR Certification

To obtain AFNOR Certification by NF VALIDATION, an expert laboratory initially confirmed the technology’s effectiveness versus conventional testing methods. Subsequently, 18 different labs spanning seven countries conducted collaborative testing to confirm the method’s robustness.

3M Food Safety is a leader of innovative solutions that help the food and beverage industries optimize the quality and safety of their products to enable consumer protection. It provides solutions that mitigate risk, improve operational efficiencies and impact bottom lines. For more information on the 3M Petrifilm Rapid Aerobic Count Plates, visit the product pages at http://bit.ly/2glSpcI.

Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com.