plate count

English

Noun

plate count (uncountable)

1. (microbiology) A measure of bacterial contamination of a sample.
   • 2003, Ahmed E. Yousef, Carolyn Carlstrom, Food Microbiology: A Laboratory Manual, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 27:

     The microbiological quality can be roughly evaluated by analyzing the food for total plate count (TPC). In some foods, high TPC may indicate poor quality. Food which appears normal may have a high TPC, indicating that the food is about to […]

   • 2008 October, Clyde E. Stauffer, Soy flour products in baking‎:

     The total plate count for soy flour intended for human consumption should be less than 20,000 per gram; typical analyses of flours made under proper sanitary conditions range from 4,000 to 7,000 per gram.

Derived terms

• TPC (“total plate count”)

Further reading

• theoretical plate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia