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Microbiological Quality Control

Blue intercellular tracking.

Maintain product integrity and brand reputation

When it comes to product development, safety and quality are of the utmost importance for protecting human health and your company’s reputation. This is true in all industries from food testing to pharmaceutical product development and manufacturing.  

ATCC is committed to raising the standards for credibility in the life sciences. We know that the validity of any microbial-based assay is dependent upon minimally passaged, fully characterized control organisms. That’s why ATCC cultures are meticulously characterized and preserved to maintain these materials in a manner that permits reproducibility of results across time and among laboratories around the world. We balance traditional biochemical testing methods with automated phenotypic and genotypic analyses. This provides highly accurate identification across a wide array of microorganisms, and can help avoid the pitfalls of misidentification, painful recalls, and regulatory repercussions. 

With nearly a century’s worth of expertise in biomaterials handling, storage, and authentication, ATCC has the credible tools you need to maintain your outstanding quality control programs. Explore our quality control resources today.

Quality control resources

Tiny beads of pink and purple bacteria in MacConkey growth medium.

Quality control in food testing

Foodborne illnesses pose a significant economic burden and can result in extensive losses associated with healthcare costs, product recalls, liability, disease surveillance, and outbreak response. It is recommended that products, raw materials, and associated equipment are rigorously evaluated for the presence of foodborne pathogens.

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Petri dish culture of E coli bacteria.

Quality control in water testing

Water is essential for human survival—from bodily functions to the manufacture of food and medicine. That’s why ensuring water quality through routine testing is paramount. Water testing can help pinpoint sources of contamination, identify contaminated water before it is used, and determine if a sterilization/purification program is working properly.

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Small clusters of round, gold methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

Quality control for pharmaceutical testing

Microbial contamination is considered to be one of the most serious issues currently facing the pharmaceutical industry as it can affect product quality and consumer safety. Therefore, the goal of quality control testing is to ensure that relevant tests are performed and that materials are not released until they are fit for distribution.

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Petri dishes filled with bright-colored cells and media in different line and spot patterns.

Quality control in media testing

Media have a lot of uses in a microbiological laboratory. In basic research, it is needed for microbial growth and enumeration, differentiation and selection, and colony purification. In testing labs, it can be used to evaluate if a product has microbial contamination, if a sterilization technique is working, or if an antimicrobial is effective. Testing is crucial for reproducible results.

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Blue mycoplasma cells.

Protect your cell lines

Mycoplasma is a serious concern for cell culturists as these bacteria are a common cause of cell line contamination. These silent contaminants often go unnoticed but can affect almost all aspects of cell physiology and can damage the quality of research materials, compromise the credibility of data, and result in extensive losses in time and funding. Contamination is of particular concern in research laboratories and commercial facilities that use cell lines for the development of biopharmaceuticals for medical use as it can pose significant safety risks for patients and major economic consequences for manufacturers. To minimize these risks, proper aseptic technique combined with routine mycoplasma testing is essential.

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