Culture Media Storage Guidelines
Culture media are the basis for most microbiological tests. Safeguarding the quality of this media is therefore critical to the success of the microbiology laboratory. All culture media has its own storage conditions, batch/lot number and expiry date stated on the labels or product inserts but the following general rules will help to ensure that they are kept in an optimum environment.
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Light
All culture media should be stored away from hot lights. In addition, exposure to direct sunlight should be avoided if possible.
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Heat
All culture media should be stored away from heat sources such as drying ovens, autoclaves and incubators.
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Temperature
Sealed, unopened containers should be stored at a temperature of 10 - 30 °C. Opened containers should have the lid securely replaced and they should be stored at a temperature of 10 - 30 °C. Certain sensitive media should be stored at 2 - 8 °C. Culture media should not be stored at or below 0 °C as freezing could damage the media performance.
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Humidity
Culture media are hygroscopic in nature where they tend to absorb moisture from the surrounding. Sealed plastic containers are unaffected by normal laboratory humidity. However, frequently opened and closed containers of media will deteriorate in storage. Avoid storing media at media preparation rooms where the humidity is exceedingly high.
HiMedia offers a very broad range of media formulations. There are standard media and customer specified media in a dehydrated form. The media also comes in both powdered form or granulated form. These media can be used in multiple fields such as food & beverage, cosmetics, agriculture, pharmaceutical and clinical. HiMedia is the only media which has Halal certification that is recognised by Jakim.