Japanese–English glossary
Settle plate count
Also called settling microorganisms
落下菌rakkakin
Viable microorganisms that settle by gravity onto an open agar plate exposed for a set time at a monitoring point, reported as colony-forming units per plate for that exposure. Settle plates complement active air sampling because they cover the whole exposure period, which matters in Grade A zones during operations. EU GMP Annex 1 limits how long each plate may be exposed, so long operations need several plates in sequence. Japanese EM reports use this term for settle plate results.