title: A comparison of two incubation temperatures for the isolation of gram-negative contaminants from raw materials and non-sterile pharmaceuticals.
abstract: Selective and non-selective broth enrichment techniques may be used in the isolation of microbial contaminants from pharmaceutical products. A non-selective method may give better recovery rates for damaged organisms. A trial was carried out to determine whether the recovery of Gram-negative contaminants could be improved by using an incubation temperature of 30 degrees C for 48 h, rather than the more widely used 37 degrees C for 24 h. Contaminants were isolated from 3.2% of samples incubated at the lower temperature compared with 0.8% at the higher temperature. The recovery rate from raw materials improved noticeably (9.0% compared with 0.9%).
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Baird
mesh_terms: D000421:Alcaligenes / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D002954:Citrobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004340:Drug Contamination; D004754:Enterobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009016:Moraxella / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013696:Temperature