R-Card® E.coli   

 Lily W "Easy to use, less plastic
My volunteers love using R-Cards to test E.coli levels in our streams. Much easier to use than petri dishes, plus less plastic waste! Virginia DEQ has given us the thumbs up as well. Highly recommend!"

 Myra Crawford  "Wonderful product for our school STEM program - We find that the R cards provide us an inexpensive tool for presenting water quality sampling to students in our school STEM program. We are also able to demonstrate how science is moving away from the petri dish model of processing samples. "

 David Skinner "Quick and easy"

 Kevin Gibbons " Convenient, good communication. I received the cards just a few days after ordering. They were exactly as described. Very easy to use.
We had taken a sample to our county health dept for testing a couple weeks ago. It came back P for present for e Coli. So we used the R card test. We did not see any colonies on the cards. We will take a new sample to the county to see if they test it positive again or not. The only thing that’s challenging with the r-cards is that we are just doing it at home. No incubator. So we can’t be sure that the cards would grow out anything without the proper temp regulation. The website does not address this."

 Gary Olson "Was impressed with the speed of filling my order and the condition that it came in. Packaging was good and instructions on line for using was very helpful. Ran our first tests comparing with our traditional E. coli test and got very comparable results."

 R-CARD® E.COLI 3ML  Gary Olson  "Very pleased -

R-Card® ECC  

 Eric Reutebuch - Former Director, Alabama Water Watch, Former President, Save Our Saugahatchee, Former President, Lake Watch of Lake Martin, current member - Board of Directors, Lake Watch of Lake Martin

“We love using R-cards”  

Lake Watch of Lake Martin AWW-certified volunteer monitors have been testing sites throughout Lake Martin and its tributaries for the past three decades. We began encountering issues with our bacteriological testing supplies. So we decided to look for a better alternative. After searching the internet and researching Roth Bioscience’s R-cards, and consulting with our parent organization, Alabama Water Watch, we’re using R-cards for bacteriological sampling. Thus far, here are the advantages we have found with using R-cards:

• R-cards do not have the quality assurance issues that our previous plated media-based method had.
• R-cards have a shorter incubation period than our previous method – they can be read in ~ 20 hours, versus 30-48 hours, which is of great importance to our Lake Watch Swim Alert effort (www.lakewatch.org/swim-alert),
• With R-cards, you don’t have to worry about media thawing during shipping like the previous method,
• R-cards are easier to store since they don’t need to be frozen like media does,
• R-cards are easier to use since they don’t require thawing before use and being transported from the sampling site on ice like media does,
• R-cards are easier to read since the colonies appear clearer and easier to distinguish,
• R-cards are easier to read since they have a grid on the cards which makes counting bacteria colonies easier,
• R-cards consistently give results equivalent to media-based test, verified through our side-by-side testing.
• You can keep R-cards for weeks to share results visually with others. They are also easy to photograph to share results or archive results.

Thus, switching to R-cards has been a no-brainer. I am totally pleased with this product and do not hesitate recommending it to other water monitoring groups.

 

 

 Michael Mullen "I currently utilize Roth Biosciences R card products for E. coil testing at swimming and other recreational use sites in the Choctawhatchee River watershed in SE Alabama where I am the Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper. The products are reliable, produce consistent and accurate results and are reasonably priced. Dr. Roth has produced quality reliable E. coli and coliform test products for 30 years and I have used those products for at least twenty-five years. I started with the Coliscan products from his former company and now I use Roth Biosciences products.

As a volunteer monitor trainer with Alabama Water Watch I have trained teachers, students and citizens to test for E. coli and I still do that but now I train using the R card products. In my personal and professional opinion the R cards offer shorter incubation times, easier enumeration and less mess and waste to dispose.

Before my retirement from Troy University I had students utilize the earlier Coliscan product in their water monitoring studies and presented results at a regional conference. I participated in early tests of handmade prototypes of what are now the Roth Biosciences R card products and recognized the potential for the card-based tests. It pleases me that Dr. Roth developed the R cards and that his company continues to provide quality products, great service and excellent technical advice.

Prior to becoming Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper I did research and public service work at Troy University and served as thesis advisor for several students whose theses involved water quality research. My education includes MS degrees in Chemistry and Biology and certificate programs in Environmental Science and Watershed Management. When I retired and became Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper in 2006 I had thirty years of professional experience most of it in water quality work."

 Cameron Chapman We really like this product. I could see us ordering many more over the coming year(s). We have done several dozen side-by-sides with the standard membrane filtration method and the results so far are promising (for certain types of work that we do).

 Amy Thut

 Ian Lipsky

 Thomas Tornabene " Jury is still out. I feel uncomfortable storing the ECC units at room temperature (cool place in a desiccator?). Also concerned about incubation at 37 C for 24 hrs (concern that my self built incubator has a +/- of 4 degrees (set to 33 C) is not suitable to maintain max growth temperature and that the 24 hrs of incubation should be extended but concerned that I could be producing false negatives. Also, the ECC disc warp when removed from the pouch making it more difficult to inoculate but flattens out in the incubator. I need more time to get comfortable with this rapid assay system. I had been using the 3M ECC disk and liked the detection of E. coli by both color and gas production."

 

R-Card® ECC-A 

 Michael Mullen "Why Not Use the Best - Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper is fully pleased with the R-card products offered by Roth Biosciences. They are convenient, easy to use, easy to train volunteers to use, produce less waste than alternatives and are relatively inexpensive.

Dr. Roth and others are available and willing to provide technical assistance. This has been the case for myself and subsequently for CRK."

 Judy May "I received my order in record time and enjoy the use and convenience of R-Cards. "

 Ann Campbell "Prompt shipping - Quick delivery of my order is much appreciated."

Martyn Andrews " Mea Culpa - Relating to my review of 9/28/2003, it turns out this was my fault, my previous orders were for 3 ml cards, and this was a 1 ml card. Dr. Roth phoned me up and set me straight. He says you need to let the water gel for 2 minutes before closing the film. This is not convenient for me, so I'll be using the 3 ml cards even though I use a 1 ml sample. I appreciate Dr. Roth taking the trouble to phone me."

 Elizabeth Stevens

 Linda Gunnoe

R-Card® E.Coli + Coliform Water Testing Kit 

Tina Mitchell - "6 stars" We have used products from Dr. Roth for decades in teaching settings. They are incredibly easy to use and interpret. These products are Godsend, especially to introductory courses.
I agree with Neal 100% - great customer service. I highly recommend these products...I give 6 stars!

Neal A Meledandri - "Great customer service - Customer service is superb. Hard to find good customer service these days. It appears these people actually care about their products and what people think. Pleasure doing business with them. Refreshing change ."

 Deborah Hatfield - "Love R-Card vs Coliscan EZ Gel - This new protocol has saved us significant time and effort and cards are easier to interpret than Coliscan protocol plates we have been using for years. Economics on the cards are good also. Thank you!

 G L Alcock Jr " Impressive results and ease of use. We were looking for a system that would point out “hot spots of pollution” in a marina in Florida. This test did just that. We were also surprised how economical it was. Thank you"

 David Kutchinski " Wonderful alternative to Colorado State cubicle queens. My fellow vet was told he needed the E. coli and Coliform test to get his loan. Since we was buying a ranch it made no sense. He went to get the test done by the state of Cannabis (aka: Colorado). $300 + three to five weeks for results. Your cards and genius! You include everything down to the pipette! Pop in my microbiology incubator....DING 16 hours later ZERO indication."

 

R-Card® Enterococcus  

 Hunter Edward "R-Card for Field Work. Great! Very handy!"

 Stella Bowles, MSM, ONS, Canadian environmentalist, Author, Youngest recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia "At the age of 11 I became aware of the pollution of the river running by my house due to the presence of multiple "straight pipes" - sewer pipes running direct from houses, straight into the river.  The governments had not done anything to remedy this, until I came along.  I set up a science fair project to collect counts of Enterococcus at a number of sites along the river.  This would have been impossible if I had had to pay for a commercial lab to do the determinations, but the use of the EasyCard, (now renamed to R-Card), made such "citizen science" both feasible and effective.  The first year, my project won in the Regional science fair, but I was too young to be eligible for National competition.   So, the following year I extended my methodology, improved my scientific design, and enrolled in the science fair again, (under the project title, "Oh poop, It's Worse than I Thought").  This time I again won regionally, and went on the Nationals, (all of Canada), where I was awarded a Silver Medal.  None of this would have been possible without the availability of the EasyCard technology, and the advice of Dr. Roth on its use in our particular circumstances."

 Dr. David Maxwell, Retired Doctor, Helped Bowles with her research "The LaHave River, in Nova Scotia, had been documented to have over 650 “straight pipes” – sewage pipes running from houses along the river directly into the river.  Governments acknowledged that this practice was illegal, but dismissed repeated calls from a local citizen’s group to enforce the laws, saying that this was not a priority.  Enter Stella Bowles, a 14 year old environmental activist who, using the EasyCard, (now renamed as R-Card), technology, sampled the river water at multiple sites, documenting levels of contamination by Enterococci considerably exceeding federal water quality guidelines for even recreational use.  As a 14 year old “citizen scientist”, without access to official government-approved laboratories, (which would have cost as much as $4000  in fees), Stella was able to muster local support to cover the minor cost of the cards and supplies from (what is now) Roth Biosciences to do her testing. Armed with her dramatic results, and a highly skilled facility with social media, Stella ultimately shamed three levels of government into crafting a $15 million, multi-year, joint agreement to replace the straight pipes along the Lahave River, incidentally winning multiple awards, including prestigious recognition from the very governments she had lobbied against.  Her actions also inspired a YA book, “My River: Cleaning Up the LaHave River”, and led to her instructing other groups of youth in testing their own local environments for bacterial contamination, using the EasyCards. All of this was made possible only by the availability of the cost-effective, and highly user-friendly, card technology from Roth Biosciences.  But, not surprisingly, Stella’s campaign provoked a degree of push-back from critics.  The first criticism leveled was that the science done by a 14 year old was inherently trivial and invalid.  She answered this by citing the advice and approval of her university professor “science advisor” in the design of her project, and the validity of her use of the cards for testing.  The next level of criticism was rather more sophisticated, and actually entirely valid, but afforded her an excellent education in the scientific method: How accurate were the counts obtained using the cards?  This required two further processes: 1) Running multiple determinations of a single defined sample to determine the reproducibility of the cards,  and 2) Running parallel tests on a series of samples, using the EasyCards, matched against determinations by a government accredited lab, as a “gold standard”.  This latter was partially hindered by a lack of funding to run large numbers of tests using the commercial lab, coupled with a certain reluctance on the part of the commercial lab itself  to disclose the variability of their own determinations.  In the end, Stella was able to state that there was a close correlation between the results obtained using the cards and the reference lab, but detailed statistics could not be calculated, due to small numbers and incomplete data from the lab.  And this reassurance proved entirely sufficient to silence her critics, within both government and civil society."

R-Card® Coliform  

 Danielle Stewart, RVT Zoo Atlanta "Testing water from our otters' pools for coliforms has been quicker and easier since we switched to R-CARDs. The previous method we used required us to sterilize instruments every two weeks. We also had to purchase expensive broths and mediums. With the R-CARD you don't have to do either so it saves us both time and money. Another reason my team loves the R-CARD is because it's SO MUCH easier to interpret results than the previous method we used. The teal colored dots make colonies obvious and the grid lines make quantifying results straight forward."

 Bridget Weidner "Easy to use and low waste effective system -

R-Card® Salmonella 

 Frank Martiniuk

 

R-Card® Total Count  

 Amber Thomason " Perfect. This is perfect for our homestead, we’re able to test our raw milk using these and our egg incubator. Save money on the lab work! So happy to have found this!"

 

Antibiotic Sensitivity Kit 

  Colleen McMurtry "Very helpful customer service and quick delivery."