First, plug the test tube or flask with cotton or plastic cap.
Sterilize the inoculating loop or needle, tool used to transfer the bacteria, by heating the wire in the flame of a Bunsen burner or alcohol lamp until red hot.
Remove the cotton plugs from the test tubes or flasks and briefly flame the mouths of the test tubes or flasks.
Pick up the organisms to be transferred by dipping the inoculating loop or needle into the liquid culture or touching the growth lightly.
Transfer the culture to a new test tube by dipping the loop gently into the broth or drawing it across the agar.
Pass the mouths of the tubes through the !lame again and then reinsert the cotton plugs to prevent the entrance of other microbes.
Heat the inoculating loop or needle again to destroy any remaining organisms.
The procedure to transfer a sample to a petri dish is similar except the culture is streaked along the agar in a pattern to isolate the bacteria on the petri dish.
