Sigma-Aldrich has announced an agreement with Public Health England (PHE) to manufacture and supply bacterial and fungal NCTC/NCPF Certified Reference Materials (CRM) in LENTICULE^® disc format worldwide for use as controls in food, water, environmental and clinical testing microbiology laboratories.

Applications

• QC (water, food, beverage, environmental etc)
• Performance testing of media acc. ISO 11133
• Validation of new methods
• Start material for Proficiency testing or ring trials
• Method development
• Staff training
• Starter cultures

Each CRM LENTICULE disc consists of a stipulated level of a pure culture of viable bacteria or fungi in a control-dried water-soluble matrix. The bacterial and fungal strains are prepared directly from strains selected from PHE's National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC) and National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi (NCPF).

The CRMs will be produced in accordance with ISO Guide 34 and individually packed at Sigma-Aldrich for customer convenience. "We have invested in a new, dedicated Biosafety Level 2 facility and expanded the scope of our ISO 17025/ ISO Guide 34 accreditation to manufacture this product range in full accordance with our Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and quality guidelines," said Fabian Wahl, Ph.D., Business Development Director at Sigma-Aldrich.

For more information on Sigma-Aldrich's NCTC/NCPF CRMs in LENTICULE disc format, visit www.sigma.com/lenticules.