Microbiological Best Laboratory Practices, USP 1117 .
MICROBIOLOGYMicrobiological BestLaboratory Practices, USP 1117 Value and RecentChanges to a Guidance ofQuality Laboratory PracticesThe field of pharmaceutical microbiology is responsible for many keyobjectives in ensuring patient safety and product quality. Qualitycontrol, method development, process and product design, and productstability are a few of the objectives. The United States Pharmacopeia(USP), other global pharmacopeias and some parallel industry specificcompendia offer some standardized test methodologies and materialspecifications relating to microbiological quality and control. Howeverthese test methods assume significant operational knowledge on thepart of the laboratory practitioner and significant operational capabilitiesof the laboratory itself. It is imperative to have some basic knowledge,experience and infrastructure that can support consistent use of thesemethods. The USP informational chapter 1117 Microbiology BestLaboratory Practices was developed to serve a part of this purpose.Scott Sutton1, Ph.D. and Donald Singer2The intent of the chapter was to address a perceived lack of clarity on theparts of both industry and the regulators on the basic requirements ofinfrastructure needed to support mandatory microbiological criteria andtests in the USP. Chemistry had a lot of guidance and information, butthere was very little guidance for microbiological testing.President, Microbiology NetworkGlobal Lead Manager, Microbiology R&D, GlaxoSmithKine12The proposed general information chapter about Microbiological BestLab Practices was first published in 2003 (USP 2003) in the PharmacopeialForum, following the long standing USP Revision process of developmentand writing standards by experts along with public comment. Aftercomments and further revision of the draft chapter (USP 2004), it wasfirst published as an official USP Informational chapter in USP 29, 3 yearslater (USP 2006).The question of laboratory variability was central to this concern.Microbiologists work every day with variability in the detection, recoveryand growth of microbiological species. This variability can be thought ofin two categories, “avoidable” variability (variability due to poor practice)and inherently unavoidable variability (variability due to limitations ofthe methods and the vagaries of dealing with biological samples - seeJarvis, 1989). The goal of “best practices” would then, be to minimize“avoidable” microbiological error.May/June 2011 1»«
»MICROBIOLOGY»What are ‘Best Laboratory Practices’in Microbiology?Well, they are a way of developing control or, in analytical terms, havinga ‘system suitability’ of the laboratory. It makes sense. Using andbenchmarking best laboratory practices plus good documentationpractices ensures reliability of data. In our highly regulated industry,assurance is paramount to control.Note: we are not saying anything about Good Manufacturing Practices(GMPs) – although they certainly have a place in the discussion! We aretalking about laboratory quality and best practice that goes well beyond21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) whatever (211, 612, 820, etc). Thegoal of this is to minimize variability and erroneous results. A secondarybenefit is to provide a benchmark for the laboratory and for auditors oflaboratory functions. Also, variability, inherent in microbiology, meansthat microbiological data deviations will happen.The Original ChapterMedia Preparation and Quality ControlThe quality of work in a microbiological laboratory depends onthe quality of the culture media. It is essential to use the correctmedia for the purpose at hand, although the correct media is notalways obvious. For example, water testing is commonly performedwith R2A agar, but many facilities use TSA (Trypticase Soy Agar)or HPCA (Heterotrophic Plate Count Agar) for this purpose. Therecommendation is provided that the choice of media should beconsistent, appropriate and justified.An entire section is devoted to the question of media storage and theeffects this might have on the media quality. Excesses of heat and coldare to be guarded against, as is the potential for dehydration of pouredplates. Some guidance is also provided in quality control for moltenmedia used in pour plates.What’s in the Original Chapter?Maintenance of Microbial CulturesLet’s take a look at the original USP chapter and its topics of discussion.Figure 1 shows the integration of all the key topics:Second only to media, safeguarding the stock cultures is the mostimportant component of a successful microbiology laboratory. Thesemust be handled carefully at all times to avoid contamination. Media preparation Microbiological cultures Lab equipment Laboratory layout Lab records Interpretation of results Training DocumentationIn the section about media preparation, the discussion included mediapreparation, media storage, and quality control testing of media.The care of the cultures starts upon receipt. A careful stock culturecurator will confirm the identity of the received cultures, even if theycome from as respected a source as a national culture collection.Mistakes can happen. The use of an incorrect strain in a compendial testcould bring the results of weeks or months of work into question.The chapter reinforces the compendial recommendation for the “seedlot technique” in culture maintenance. Critical to this is the need togo into your containers of stock culture only once, and in restrictingthe number of passages. Now, it must be stated that there is nothingmagic about the number 5. This number of passages gained popularityin the compendia through its use in the Sterility Test, and has beenmaintained for consistency. The point to the practice is that a careful labwill safeguard the purity and identity of their stock cultures by limitingthe potential for “drift” due to excessive transfers.Maintenance of Laboratory EquipmentThis section was originally included more for the sake of completenessthan because of concerns peculiar to the microbiology laboratory.Basic information on qualification requirements, documentation, etc.was included.Laboratory Layout and OperationsFigure 1.2 May/June 2011The need for this section stems from the concern that too few facilitiesunderstand or plan for the separation of samples from a microbiologicalperspective. The success of a laboratory can be enhanced by thethoughtful separation of samples likely to have contamination fromthose that are expected to be sterile.
«MICROBIOLOGYTraining of Personnel Keep the chapter updatedThe chapter states plainly what should be common sensein recommending that microbiologists and managers in thepharmaceutical support lab should have academic training inmicrobiology or allied health sciences. This recommendation is in linewith current best practice for biosafety as laid out in the 5th Edition of theCenter for Disease Control’s (CDC) manual “Biosafety in Microbiologicaland Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL).” (CDC, 2007) Improve clarity Add more information that the public requestedDocumentation and Maintenance ofLaboratory RecordsThese sections were included only for the sake of completeness,although additional “GMP Rules” are added in this revision. It is nice tosee the rules written down somewhere.One aspect of these sections should also be addressed, and that is theexpectations when dealing with contract laboratories. The list of requiredbits of information for the lab write-up is designed to provide a minimalamount of proactive documentation for GMP requirements. This is alsoa reasonable expectation for “GMP” studies from contract laboratories.Many labs will accept little more than summary reports from the contractlab; it is the opinion of the authors that this is an ill-reasoned positionas it prevents adequate QAU (Quality Assurance Unit) review of the studyas required by 21 CFR210.3(b)12 & 15, 21 CFR211.84, 21 CFR211.87,21 CFR 211.160 and 21 CFR211.165. While it might be argued that thecontract lab’s QAU fulfills this requirement, this assumes that the client hascomplete and total confidence that the current Quality procedures andpolicies of the contract lab meet or exceed their own.Interpretation of Assay ResultsThis section was initially envisioned to provide information on laboratoryinvestigations. However, during the writing process it became clearthat the scope of this section was broader than merely investigations,and so the current title was settled upon as the best choice.A discussion of the inherent variability of microbiological data wasnecessary in this chapter. One view of good laboratory practices couldbe structured around determining practices that minimize variabilityin the microbiology lab. However, because we are dealing with suchlow numbers on plates (frequently less than 20 CFU/plate) and thereal opportunities for human error in tests that may run over a monthto completion, the microbiologist must always be aware of the rolethat random chance has in the data and be on guard against overinterpreting the results of a study.Revisions in the Current VersionChapter 1117 is a living informational reference, which means thatas the expert committee sees or hears of potential improvements, thechapter can be updated. Since the official chapter was first published,and as part of a quality improvement plan for a USP chapter, both expertcommittee and comments from the public already have led to somechanges, in order to:Now, let’s take a look at the newly revised chapter, in Figure 2.Some new relevant topics were added: Lab Resources, Sample Handling,and Media Incubation Times.In addition to the new topics, some modifications were made to thelanguage used to improve clarity and accuracy within these topics.More Detail of the Recent ChangesIntroductionSome clarifications were added to the Introduction. The sentence aboutkey parameters relating to equipment was modified, using the word‘operation’ along with ’control’ to indicate the importance of equipmentperformance. When discussing data variability, as mentioned earlier, wereplaced the word ‘known’ with ‘inherent’ to enhance clarity about therisk of variability in microbiology.Media Preparation and Quality Control TestingThe revised chapter expands the discussion of media preparation aswell. The recommendations include accurate weighing of dehydratedcomponents, the use of high-quality (USP Purified) water, as thefirst intent choice, completely dissolving the dehydrated media orindividual ingredients, and the need to control the heating of themedia to avoid damaging heat-labile components of the media. Somerecommendations on the labeling and packaging of media are alsoprovided. A general change in the chapter is apparent in this section,with cross-references to various other relevant USP chapters added.This cross-referencing also raises expectations that the microbiologylab will be familiar and compliant with these other chapters as well. Forinstance, instead of explaining how to calibrate a balance, a referencewas added for the USP General chapter about Weighing on an AnalyticalBalance, USP 1251 .The quality control of the media is a critical concern. Interestingly,initially some of the most passionate commentary on the chapter dealtwith the “excessive” amount of space provided to media quality checks.Since the initial release in 2003, however, the harmonized Sterility Testsand the harmonized Microbial Limits Tests have both incorporatedstringent media quality checks. This section provides an opportunityto provide additional general information on media growth promotiontesting which led to a significant expansion in revision.The two statements about Sterility Assurance Level (SAL) related to mediasterilization were removed. The removal of SAL in both cases relates to abelief that SAL was not developed for use with media sterilization.Clarifying the intent of the discussion about media sterilization, the‘container size’ parameter was added as a key part describing what canaffect the rate of heating during a sterilization cycle. As a consequenceMay/June 2011 3»
»MICROBIOLOGY»of sterilizing or heating conditions that can have multiple effects onmedia, the discussion was enhanced by adding to the physical effectsparameters another issue, the potential of reduced growth promotionor selective activity of a medium.The chapter now clarifies what is meant by room temperature whentesting pH, by the addition of 200-250C. In addition, a reference was addedfor USP 791 which discusses pH measurement and calibration. As weknow, there is an increased use of purchased media in our new world ofLean Labs! A statement about purchased media was added relating to thecommon storage at refrigerated temperatures before pH testing.The recommendation of Quality Control (QC) testing was updatedto include all prepared media. Because of the new harmonizedpharmacopeial chapters for Microbiological Enumeration 61 andSpecified Microorganisms 62 , information was added to state the keyindicated parameters for QC testing of media: pH growth promotion inhibition and indicative propertiesThis was meant to align better with these harmonized chapters.The selection of challenge microorganisms for QC testing of media isstated in the chapter. To clarify how selection is determined, a statementwas rewritten to indicate relevance, use and selection of the growthpromotion microorganisms, in particular environmental isolates.Another sentence was added to the discussion to help clear up theresponse relating to Growth Promotion failures. Also added was astatement that any failed Growth Promotion tests would not negate anypositive recovery that occurs during testing.Media used in aseptic or clean areas were recommended to be100% pre-incubated and inspected first, then followed by growthpromotion testing.Microbiological CulturesSince the viability and identification of cultures used for controls andQC testing are critical, this section intends to recommend parameterst
preparation, media storage, and quality control testing of media. The Original Chapter. Media Preparation and Quality Control. The quality of work in a microbiological laboratory depends on the quality of the culture media. It is essential to use the correct media for the purpose at hand, although the correct media is not always obvious.
LABORATORY 1. Microbiological specification and regulations 2. Local and international approaches to obtaining safe food 3. Management and quality assurance in the microbiology laboratory Lecturer: Miss Elemba, O. M. Microbiological specification and regulations Microbiological Criteria: Microbiological criteria are
USP Reference Standards for USP or NF. section, under Quantitative determinations, the text is revised as follows: ”For the USP Reference Standards where an International Standard (IS) established by the WHO exists, the reference standards documentation will indicate when the USP RS has been established by
Y-site compatible with several IV bag fluids, including: — Water for Injection, USP — 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP — Lactated Ringer’s Injection, USP — 10% Amino Acid — 5% Dextrose Injection, USP — 5% Dextrose in 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP — 5% Dextrose in Lactated Ringer’s Injection, USP Titrate DOSE .
DSC USP–NF General Chapters25 USP–NF General Chapters This section contains selected official general chapters that are reprinted from the USP.Only those USP chapters considered relevant for the analysis and/or manufacturing of dietary supplements are included in this section.
Apr 08, 2021 · About United States Pharmacopeia (USP) USP, a scientific organization that sets standards for identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients, and . Follow containment requirements in USP 800 Perform an Assessment o
Elemental Impurities Complies with USP 232 limits USP 233 Bioburden TAMC TYMC 1000 CFU/g 100 CFU/g USP 61 (membrane filtration method) Bacterial Endotoxins (LAL) To be determined (based on maximum allowed exposure limit, e.g., 5 EU/kg/hr for IV) USP 85 Preliminary Specifications for Peptide APIs (Continued)
The first United States Pharmacopeia (USP) was published. 1938 1975 2020 200 years of building trust USP purchased the NF, combining the two publications under one cover to create the United States Pharmacopeia-National Formulary (USP-NF). The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act expands the roles for applicable USP and
USP 1058 The USP is the only major pharmacopoeia to have a general chapter on AIQ, so many companies use the approach as a basis for qualifying their analytical instruments. USP 1058 is an important document as it is the only risk-based regulatory guidance on the subject. USP 1058 is an informational general chapter (providing strong .
