What are the Advantages and disadvantages of viable counts method?

The viable counts method, which measures the number of living microorganisms in a sample, has several advantages, including its ability to provide an accurate estimate of viable cells and its applicability to a wide range of samples. However, it also has disadvantages, such as being time-consuming since it often requires incubation periods, and it may underestimate microbial populations by failing to detect non-culturable or stressed organisms. Additionally, the method can be influenced by the growth conditions used, potentially skewing results.