Scope
Antimicrobial Products – Test for antimicrobial activity and efficacy
Products that can be tested
Plastics
Description of Test
- Test organisms to be used are two strains of Escherichia coli (ATTC 25922/ATTC 8739) and two strains of Staphylococcus aureus (ATTC 6538/ATTC 6538p) to be grown at 37˚C for 24 h and diluted to a working concentration of 5 x 105 cells/ml.
- The control and test surfaces are inoculated with the working culture and covered with a sterile film ensuring close homogenous surface contact.
- Bacterial viability at the start (t = 0) is determined by serial dilution and plating out on an appropriate agar while untreated and treated samples are incubated at 37°C for 18 hours.
- Samples are washed to extract bacteria from the surface. This extraction solution is serially diluted and plated out on an appropriate agar to enumerate colony forming units.
- The elution method is validated by a control to ensure effective neutralization of the antimicrobial agent.
- The efficacy of the antimicrobial compound is determined by calculating the log reduction in bacterial viability elicited by the test sample.
Third Party Validation
On passing this test, the product can be labelled as tested by airmid healthgroup to JIS Z 2801 in support of any claim relating to the test and data received.
Turnaround Time
4 weeks from receipt of samples