Results can be obtained after 16 hours of incubation at 37°C. A reduction of the incubation time by one hour (15 h) is also ok, but incubation times shorter than that will decrease the sensitivity of the N-Light™ E. coli test for stressed cells. In case relatively high numbers of E. coli are expected, incubation time can be reduced to 8 h. It, likewise, up to six hours longer incubation time (30 h) will not affect the test, but longer incubation times have not yet been validated and may lead to unreliable results.
