Computerized semiautomated microbiological assay of folacin.

A semiautomated microbiological folacin assay system is described. A microcomputer controls sample dilutions, medium addition, turbidity determination, and data acquisition. Assay capacity is 600 tubes per day, approximately twice that of comparable manual assays. Using the automated equipment, more samples can be compared within one assay, eliminating many sources of between-assay variation in large studies. Additional advantages of this system are reduced human errors, flexibility of assay design, and multifunctional component equipment. Folacin results from chicken liver, spinach, and breakfast cereal samples show equivalent precision for manual and automated assays.