Bile Salt Agar

 Principle

• Bile Salt Agar is formulated as per recommended by BIS (1986) for the isolation, identification, and enumeration of Vibrio cholerae.
• The media is composed of peptone, special peptone, sodium chloride, sodium taurocholate, and agar. The bile salt provides selectivity for the growth of Vibrio species, and many other gram-negative bacteria.
• On bile salt agar colonies of Vibrio's have a distinctive appearance and can be easily differentiated from Escherichia coli. The medium contains peptone, special peptone (equivalence to meat extract) which provides carbonaceous, nitrogenous compounds and other essential growth nutrients.
• Sodium chloride maintains the osmotic equilibrium of the medium. Sodium taurocholate inhibits most of gram-negative organisms.

 Use:

Recommended by the BIS committee under the specifications IS:5887 (Part V) -1976 for isolation and identification of bile-tolerant bacteria responsible for food poisoning.