Plate counting tells you how many cells grow on agar. Flow cytometry tells you how many are viable in your product — in hours instead of days, with a fraction of the scatter. For starter cultures, food supplements and fermented products.
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The number of colony-forming units (CFU) reflects only a part of a microbial population — namely, those cells that can reproduce under the selected culture conditions and can form visible colonies. However, a microbial population comprises far more than just culturable cells — stressed, metabolically inactive, dying, and dead cells resulting from freeze-drying, tableting, or months of storage — complete the picture.
Surviving cells of a multi-strain synbiotic after 12 months, measured in parallel
At 25 °C the plate count sees 61.5 % survivors — the cytometric count sees 93.8 %. The difference is not measurement error: those cells are alive, they simply no longer form colonies. At 30 °C the plate count drops below the 10⁹ threshold entirely, while two thirds of the cells are still viable. Anyone dosing overage against the CFU value is over-formulating an expensive raw material.
Source: 12-month shelf-life study on a multi-strain synbiotic, Frontiers in Microbiology 2022. — Placeholder: please confirm or replace with your own stability data.
Fluorescence staining separates each cell by membrane integrity. A green dye enters every cell; a red dye only enters cells whose membrane is compromised. Both signals are read at the same time — so you do not just get a number, you get the condition your culture is in.
Schematic illustration of the population distribution, not measurement data. Placeholder — to be replaced with a real scattergram from your own samples.
No colony counting, no subjective reading, no three-day wait for the release decision.
Rehydrate powder, capsules or a fermenter sample, dilute and filter. CellTrics™ filters remove matrix particles that could disturb the measurement.
approx. 10 minDual staining with a green and a red fluorescent dye. Ready-to-use reagent kits with fixed protocols — ensure consistent results, while reducing hands-on time.
approx. 20 minTrue volumetric absolute counting delivers cells per millilitre directly — without counting beads. With the autoloader a full 96-well plate runs unattended.
< 30 min / 96 samplesPredefined measurement scripts analyze the populations automatically and generate the report. Results can be transferred to your LIMS.
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Hours instead of days
Where an incubation used to block the batch for up to three days, the result now arrives within a day. Storage empties faster, working capital is released earlier, and a deviation is noticed while the batch is still in the building.
Raw material cost
Flow cytometry not only characterizes population composition but also reveals the current health and status of individual cells. A count that identifies all cells — viable, stressed, dead — gives the complete picture of population health, enabling more accurate raw material calculations.
Precision
Counting thousands of cells individually instead of estimating colonies by eye reduces the method from the result. Published method comparisons report roughly half the relative standard deviation — which is what makes a specification limit defensible in the first place.
Process control
Freeze-drying, tableting, heat, and other factors influence the health status of your population. Identify stress-related changes early and take action.
Routine lab
Predefined measurement scripts, guided QC routines and automatic reporting. Start-up takes under five minutes, and an adaptive cleaning option ensures the system remains clean and eliminates the risk of sample-to-sample carryover.
Instrument · Reagents · Software · Support
Instrument, matched reagents, sample preparation, software and application support come from one manufacturer. When a result is questioned, you have one contact — not three suppliers pointing at each other.
A configuration for microbiological viability counting in production and quality control. Which combination fits depends on your matrix and throughput — that is what the demo is for.
The flow cytometer designed for microbiological quality control in industrial environments. As the only complete solution, it meets key requirements of standardization, traceability, automation, user-friendliness, accuracy, and sensitivity.
Ready-to-use dual staining, green and red, for live/dead discrimination of bacteria. The kit is specified for industrial water; for probiotic matrices the protocol has to be adapted and validated — a point we would work through with you during application support.
Powders, capsules and feed matrices carry particles that a cytometer will happily count as events. Disposable filters in eight mesh sizes remove them before the measurement.
The measurement problem is the same everywhere. What differs is the consequence.
Capsules, sachets, powders and drops with a CFU claim on the label.
Frozen and freeze-dried cultures for the dairy and fermentation industry.
Yoghurt, kefir, fermented plant-based drinks with short shelf life.
Service labs running probiotic counts for many clients in parallel.
Live microbial products under GMP conditions.
Probiotic feed additives and silage cultures for livestock.
Tell us which strains you work with, which matrix they sit in and what your throughput looks like. Our application specialists will tell you honestly whether — and how — this method fits your process.
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