Colony Forming Units (CFUs)

Colony Forming Units (CFUs) are a way to estimate the number of viable bacteria or fungal cells in a sample. When a sample is cultured, each living microorganism can grow into a visible colony. Counting these colonies helps determine how much contamination or presence of microorganisms is in the sample. For example, a higher CFU count indicates more bacteria or fungi, often used in food safety, medical diagnostics, and water testing to assess cleanliness or infection levels. It’s a practical measure of the number of living, reproducing microorganisms in a given amount of material.