The microwave of 2450 MHz, generated by a household cooking oven, was evaluated for its applicability to melt various rehydrated media and to remove dissolved oxygen from tubed media for anaerobic culture. The effect on the sterilization of E. coli in selective media was also evaluated. The following results were obtained. 10 The microwave oven was useful in saving time for melting media and in eliminating heat and combustion gas from the laboratory, which were inevitable by-products in the conventional flame method. 2) Dissolved oxygen could be removed without boiling over by exposing the tubes of anaerobic culture medium after putting them in a wire basket in a beaker with water. 30 The count of E. coli during the melting of MacConkey and EMB agar were similar to those treated with open flame. The microwave treatment was not considered a possible mean to replace autoclaving even in these selective media.