Pharmaceutical Microbiology: The Best Culture Media Suppliers for Environmental Monitoring

Choosing a supplier for culture media in environmental monitoring is a bit like getting married… You hope it will last a lifetime, but sometimes it ends in divorce.

And that’s when things get messy… because everything will need to be revalidated!

The first step is to create a requirements specification, and you can find all our tips in this article “How to choose the best culture media for Environmental Monitoring in pharmaceutical microbiology?.”

Next, you’ll need to start the search for a new supplier, and this is where the “Super Power” of SuperMicrobiologistes comes in handy. Our superpower is the 20,000 microbiologists who regularly follow us. Your feedback is worth its weight in gold.

We surveyed the SuperMicrobiologistes to find out which culture media suppliers are most appreciated.

The result? 4 brands stand out. Here they are:

Content :

ICR / ICR Plus culture media from Merck

ICR / ICR Plus culture media from Merck

Merck offers a wide range of culture media dedicated to microbiological monitoring in aseptic production environments (clean rooms, RABS, and isolators).

The culture media, available in contact plates, Petri dishes, and swabs, are gamma-irradiated, triple-wrapped (impermeable to H2O2), and contain neutralizers.

Merck’s ICR plates for air sampling (active or passive)

Key advantages of ICR (Isolator Clean Room) culture media:

A wide range of neutralizers (to be selected based on the disinfectants/antibiotics used in production)
Storage at ambient temperature or cold (4°C – 25°C)
Shelf life of 12 months from production for TS (Tryptic Soy) agar
A 30 ml fill volume
Sabouraud media are packaged in pink plates to differentiate them from TSA plates.

Key advantages of ICR Plus culture media:

A 2-position locking system: “closed” and “vent” for anaerobes.
A more comprehensive certificate of analysis, including:
- Functionality test of the Data Matrix code
- Verification of anaerobic growth in plates (Clostridium sporogenes)
- Disinfectant neutralization tests

Key advantages of ICR Swab:

An integrated culture broth reservoir that reduces sampling to a single step, minimizing the risk of secondary contamination: designed for presence/absence results in classified areas A, B, or similar.
Pre-moistened for convenience
Unique barcode for easy traceability

Merck’s ICR Plus contact plates for surface sampling

Learn more about the ICR by Merck

The other media mentioned by the SuperMicrobiologistes include the 3P range from bioMérieux, the range from BD, and the CSG range from PMM.

Why are some brands featured more prominently than others?

Following the survey conducted with the SuperMicrobiologistes, we reached out to all the brands that were highly recommended to offer them the opportunity to sponsor this article.

This sponsorship allows us to provide you with all our content for free.

The brands that are “better” presented are those that agreed to support SuperMicrobiologistes by sponsoring the article. We thank them for their support.

So, if you’re looking for a culture media supplier, start by testing these brands!