Soyabean Casein Digest Agar Plate is supplied by HiMedia. It contains sterile ready prepared media in 55mm polystyrene plates. This light-yellow coloured medium has a pH in the range of 7.1 to 7.5. Soyabean Casein Digest Agar is commonly used for the subculture of aerobic organisms. It is advisable to store this product between 15-25C. Composition (in gm/L) is as follows:

Pancreatic digest of casein (15.00)

Papaic digest of soybean (soyabean) (5.00)

Sodium chloride (5.00)

Agar (15.00)

Various pharmacopoeias recommend the use of Soybean Casein Digest Agar as a sterility testing medium. It is also used in the validation of sterility checking procedure in accordance with the microbial limit testing harmonized methodology of USP/EP/BP/JP. This medium can be used in the antimicrobial preservative-effective test too. Gunn et al used this medium for the growth of fastidious organisms and study of haemolytic reaction after addition of 5% v/v blood. The combination of pancreatic digest of casein and papaic digest of soybean meal makes this media nutritious by acting as a source of amino acids and long chain peptides for the growth of microorganisms. Natural sugars of soya enhance growth of microorganisms. Sodium chloride is used to maintain the osmotic balance in the medium. Agar acts as the solidifying agent. The total aerobic count is considered to be equal to the number of colonies forming units found on this medium; in case colonies of fungi are detected on this medium they are counted along with total aerobic count.