What are the precautions that should be taken when using the pour plate method?

There are several precautions one should take when doing this technique. One is to follow the safety procedures and be aware of every unknown specimen and treat it as hazardous. The media, petri dish, and solvent used should all be sterilized, as well as the working environment. Micropipettes or standard calibrated tubes should be used when transferring samples into the petri dish or media tubes/bottles. The permitted media volume per 10 cm petri plate varies between 12-20 mL, according to FDA and USP guidelines. The sample should also be diluted so that the viable microbial load is between 20-300 CFU/mL. Additionally, the media temperature should be maintained between 40-45 degrees Celsius. Temperatures above 55 degrees Celsius should be avoided as it might lead to solidification or clumping. Lastly, each petri plate should be labeled before pouring media and sample; the labels should contain information about the dilution factor.