Pharmamedia Dr. Müller (PMM) is a leading manufacturer of culture media for environmental monitoring (EM) and is specialized in the production as well as the development of microbiological media for pharmaceutical applications. Triggered by customer feedback, PMM continuously improves its processes with the goal of providing innovative products with the highest level of quality and safety.
The formation of condensation is a common challenge of plated microbiological culture media due to the high content of water and the natural origin of the raw materials.
- Clear condensation may form in response to temperature deviations during transport and storage, appears as small clear droplet mainly in the lid of plates or in the packaging and typically does not interfere with the application of the plates.
- Yellowish-colored condensation may be observed outside the plates and/or in the innermost bag when the amount of condensation is high and the film of water on top of the agar runs out of the plate. This type of condensation may apply a risk to the usage of the medium because it has been in contact with the medium and contains nutrients.
Within the last years, PMM has improved its production processes addressing the steps that mostly contribute to condensation formation. Initiated measures include:
- Improvement of the filling process
- Improvement of the storage conditions to better protect the plates from temperature deviations
- Customer training courses on plate handling.
By optimizing the processes, PMM indeed succeeded in significantly reducing the occurrence of condensation but could not eliminate it completely.
Therefore, PMM is launching an innovative and optimized design of contact plates planned to prevent yellowish condensation from dripping out of the plates and, eventually get onto the user´s hand, by introducing condensation collection channels in the bottom part of the lid support.
In 90 mm plates, the water film on the agar surface does not come out of the plates if plate staples are stored upright. On the contrary, water from the agar surface can drain from the plate into the packaging even if the plates have been correctly stored, because of the plate geometry and the extended agar surface. Thanks to the introduction of the condensation collection channels, any condensation flowing from the agar surface and meeting the base of the lid support is sucked into the channels by capillarity and retained. This makes the new PMM contact plates even safer and more user-friendly.
