The Blogs
The AFD Brief

Industry news, trends, and highlights.
The Inside the Innovation

AFD developments, product lines, and news.
The Lab Notebook

Laboratory best practices, technical advice, and expertise.

The Lab Notebook

How to Test for Salmonella in Food and Environmental Samples
Understand the key steps in testing food and environmental samples for Salmonella, from sampling and enrichment to screening and confirmation. Learn where Compact Dry SL fits and how to distinguish detection from enumeration. Read more...
How Compact Dry Plates Work: A Simple Approach to Microbial Testing
Food microbiology testing has traditionally relied on prepared agar plates, pour plates, and other culture methods that require several media-preparation and handling steps. CompactDry™️ plates simplify that process by placing dehydrated culture medium inside a small, ready-to-use plate. Read more...
Indicator Organisms: What Are We Actually Looking For?
When a microbiology report includes a high total count, coliforms, E. coli, Enterobacteriaceae, or yeast and mold, it is easy to assume that a pathogen has been found. Usually, that is not what the result means. Read more...
What Happens Between the Sample and the Result?
A food sample’s journey through the lab does not begin with the test itself. Long before a result appears on a report, the sample has to be prepared in a way that gives the test a fair chance to detect what is truly present.  Read more...
The Most Important Step in Microbiology Isn't the Plate
A perfectly validated method cannot correct for a poor sample. If the sample does not accurately represent the product, surface, water source, or environment being tested, every result that follows becomes less meaningful. Read more...