Stirrers aerate the bacteria in a closed system
in 5 gallon bottles, the next phase in the manufacturing process. The tops
of the bottles are covered with a Rapid-Flo ®
milk filter sandwiched between two layers
of Steri-Wrap II® paper, which allows oxygen through, while excluding bacteria
and other contaminants. A magnetic stir-bar keeps the media evenly stirred
and aerated and the heating magnetic stirrers below the culture bottles
assures an even heat during scale-up growth.
In the QUALITY CONTROL LAB, cultures are being
examined at the microscope in the foreground, to verify purity. In the background,
plates are being streaked to confirm that only the desired bacterial strains
are growing in a given culture.
Sterile inoculated plates must be checked
for growth and contaminationfrom
within the incubator and streaked plates are checked from each stage of
growth, from shake flask, 5 gallon liquid growth, larger fermentors and
spray dry or freeze-dried preparation.
Laboratory data of all quality control testing
is maintained in a computer. for preparation of official certificate of
analysis for every batch prepared.f
