Palcam Agar Base is used with supplements as a selective and differential medium for the detection and isolation of Listeria monocytogenes from food and environmental samples. Palcam Agar Base is not intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions in humans.

Palcam Agar was developed by Van Netten et al in 1989 as an improved selective differential medium for the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes from food and environmental specimens. Improved selectivity is achieved by the combination of antibiotic supplements and microaerobic incubation. The double indicator system of esculin hydrolysis and mannitol fermentation aids differentiation of Listeria spp from enterococci and staphylococci which can be confused with Listeria spp on other types of culture media. Palcam Agar is listed within Annex E of ISO 11290-1:2017 as a suitable second selective agar.