EMB Media Recipe for Detecting Sugar Fermentation

EMB Nutrient Base

1. Dissolve 212g Bacto Casamino acids in 4.5L H₂O
2. Dissolve 26g Bacto Yeast extract in the solution from step 1
3. Dissolve 135g NaCl in the solution from step 2
4. Dissolve 52g K₂HPO₄ in the solution from step 3
5. q.s. to 5L
6. Dispense into 150ml aliquots
7. Autoclave

EMB Media

1. Add 8ml of 4% eosin yellow to 150ml of EMB nutrient base
2. Add 8ml of 0.65% methylene blue to the solution from step 1
3. Add 600ml of 2% agar in H₂O to the solution from step 2
4. Add 40ml of 20% (sugar to be tested) to the solution from step 3
5. Pour into plates

A bacterium which can ferment the sugar added in step 4 will produce a colored colony, non-fermenting bacterium will produce a non-colored colony.