This medium was developed in 1967 by King and Metzger of the Hektoen Institute in order to increase the frequencies of isolation of Shigella and Salmonella organisms when compared with their recovery on other media frequently utilized in clinical laboratories at that time. It is currently recommended as one of several plating media for the culture of Enterobacteriaceae from stool specimens. The increased concentration of carbohydrate and proteose peptone helps to reduce the inhibitory effect of bile salts and indicators and allows good growth of Salmonella and Shigella species while inhibiting the normal intestinal flora.