At present, the method used to detect VBNC cells is mainly based on two key characteristics of VBNC cells: viability and non-culturability. Generally, if bacteria lose culturability but are still viable, they can be considered to have entered the VBNC state. Thus, using the conventional plate counting technique to confirm the cells in a non-culturable state is the first major step used to detect VBNC cells, followed by the estimation of viable cells using other methods.