Quality control methods for

Effectiveness of the culture medium and validity of the counting method
The following strains are normally used (see also section 20): 
Staphylococcus aureus 
NCIMB 8625 (ATCC 6538-P, CIP 53.156) or NCIMB
9518 (ATCC 6538, CIP 4.83)
Bacillus subtilis 
NCIMB 8054 (ATCC 6633, CIP 52.62)
 
Escherichia coli
NCIMB 8545 (ATCC 8739, CIP 53.126) 
Candida albicans
ATCC 2091 (CIP 1180.79) or ATCC 10 231 (NCPF 
3179, CIP 48.72) 
 
Allow the test strains to grow separately in tubes containing soybean-casein 
digest medium at 30-35°C for 18-24 hours, except for Candida albicans which 
needs a temperature of 20-25°C for 48 hours. 
Dilute portions of each of the cultures using buffered sodium chloride-peptone 
solution pH 7.0 to obtain test suspensions containing about 100 viable 
microorganisms per ml. Use the suspension of each microorganism separately as 
a control of the counting methods, in the presence and absence of the material 
being examined, if necessary. 

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Quality control methods for medicinal plant materials 
Table 8 
Determination of total viable aerobic count 
Number of tubes 
100mg or 
0.1 ml 
per tube 
with microbial 
10mg or 
0.01 ml 
per tube 
growth
a
1mg or 
0.001 ml 
per tube 
Most probable 
number of 
microorganisms 
per g or ml 
3 3 3 
>1100 
3 3 2 
1100 
3 3 1 500 
3 3 0 200 
3 2 3 290 
3 2 2 210 
3 2 1 150 
3 2 0 90 
3 1 3 160 
3 1 2 120 
3 1 1 70 
3 1 0 40 
3 0 3 95 
3 0 2 60 
3 0 1 40 
3 0 0 23 
a
Amounts in mg or ml are quantities of original plant material.
To validate the method, a count for the test organism should be obtained 
differing by not more than a factor of 10 from the calculated value for the 
inoculum. To test the sterility of the medium and the diluent, as well as aseptic 
performance, carry out the total viable aerobic count using sterile buffered 
sodium chloride-peptone solution pH 7.0 as the test preparation. There should 
be no growth of microorganisms.