Specialists in the development of high quality culture media, Oxoid Limited, have launched a new animal-free culture medium, which is suitable for microbiological Media Fill Trials (MFT) in the pharmaceutical industry. Oxoid Cold Filterable Vegetable Peptone Broth (VG0104) is completely free of animal derived material and is suitable for use as an alternative to Tryptone Soya Broth.

Formulated using a pea peptone (digested using fungal enzymes), Oxoid Cold Filterable Vegetable Peptone Broth (VPB) responds to the needs of an increasing number of pharmaceutical manufacturers who want to ensure that their production environments are not in contact with any animal-derived material. It is a highly nutritious, general purpose medium that will support the growth of a wide range of bacteria, yeasts and moulds.

Oxoid Cold Filterable VPB receives a gamma irradiated sterilising dose that is validated to be lethal for all yeasts, moulds and bacteria, including bacterial spores and mycoplasmas. In addition, each component is screened and selected to ensure easy filtration, making it ideal for MFT. A Vcap value is calculated and provided for each batch, using three different filter types. This value allows the maximum filterable volume to be calculated before starting a MFT.

The performance of Oxoid Cold Filterable VPB is tested according to specifications for growth of control micro-organisms laid down by the European Pharmacopoeia 5th Edition 2005, British Pharmacopoeia 2004, United States Pharmacopoeia USP 28 2005 and Japanese Pharmacopoeia JP 14 2001.