The nature of reporting of a microbiology laboratory depends upon the quality of the culture media used. Quality of media directly affects the observations and inferences drawn from the cultural characteristics of microorganisms. Checking of different parameters of media such as growth supporting characteristics, physical characteristics, gel strength and batch contamination can help to assess their quality. There are different methods to check all these parameters systematically. The meticulous performance of quality control of culture media can assure precision in reporting.Key words: Quality control, culture media *Corresponding author (email: ) R&D Department, Microbiology Division, Span Diagnostics Ltd., Udhna, Surat -394 210, Gujarat, India. Received: 21-06-200421-06- Accepted: 19-10-2004 Special Article permissible limit for residual EtO is 1 µg/g and it can be measured by standard gas chromatographic methods.2 Only borosilicate glassware should be used because soda glass can leach alkali into the media.There are various additives used in preparation of media. Blood is the most important one of them. Hence the quality of the blood plays an important role in the performance of the blood containing media. The sterility, homogeneity, viscosity and colour of the blood should be scrupulously checked before it is used for media preparation. For other additives the certificate of analysis and sterility conditions should be considered.
Sterilization parameterSterilization of the media plays an important role in the quality of the media. Generally autoclaving is carried out for sterilizing the media. However, the time of autoclaving and the quantity of media sterilized should be closely regulated.
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