Halal and Kosher Certified Culture Media for Microbial Testing

Producing food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics for Muslim and Jewish consumers comes with very specific challenges. Not only the products themselves must comply with religious teaching. So too must the raw materials and many tools that enter the production area, including processing equipment or substances that are not intended to come into physical contact with the product or any of its ingredients. This includes culture media to monitor microbial contamination in production environments. We have now introduced a range of dehydrated culture media for microbiological QC that are both halal and kosher certified—suitable in particular for air, surface and personnel testing (environmental monitoring), as well as for aseptic process simulations (media fill trials).

Halal considerations and products

• Implications Your Culture Media Could Have for Your Halal Certification
• Halal Certification of Products and Production Facilities
• Meeting the Needs of Halal-Certified Manufacturers
• Our Range of Halal Dehydrated Culture Media
• Halal Culture Media for Media Fill Tests

Kosher considerations and products

• Implications your culture media could have for your kosher certification
• Kosher certification of products and production facilities
• Meeting the needs of kosher-certified manufacturers
• Our range of kosher dehydrated culture media
• Kosher culture media for media fill tests

List of our Halal and Kosher-certified Culture Media

HALAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PRODUCTS

Implications Your Culture Media Could Have for Your Halal Certification

Culture media risk carrying hidden non-halal ingredients into halal-certified production areas. Peptone media, for example, are primarily made of animal or non-animal origin materials but are nevertheless usually non-halal. This is because the peptone is treated in an early processing step with enzymes of porcine origin. If such media are not specially handled in halal-certified areas, this may compromise the status of the whole production facility and thus of all the end products manufactured in it. Learn more in our webinar.

Halal Certification of Products and Production Facilities

Independent institutions exist that review and certify manufacturing facilities, processes, and products for compliance with accepted halal reference standards. They are accredited by halal authorities and bodies such as MUI Indonesia, Jakim Malaysia, GAC GCC incl. UAE, and HAC Sri Lanka. The main organization under which most of the international accredited halal certification bodies around the globe work is the Halal Food Council.

Meeting the Needs of Halal-Certified Manufacturers

We have developed a range of fully halal-certified culture media that come with clear information about the origin and processing of each biological component. Manufacturers can use these products to prepare contact plates, dip slides, and other formats used for microbiological quality control (QC) testing in halal-certified production areas without implications for their halal status.

These halal culture media comply with both Islamic teaching and specified international regulations. They are:

• Free of non-halal contamination
• Certified annually according to JAKIM MS and MUI HAS halal standards
• Compliant with ISO, EP, USP, JP, and FDA-BAM standards (if designated “prime”)

Note that most of our halal-certified products are also kosher-certified.

Whitepaper: Environmental Control at Halal Certified Food Manufacturers 

Our Range of Halal Dehydrated Culture Media

As a leading worldwide supplier of products and solutions for microbiological testing and monitoring in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and beverage industries, we offer our culture media as powdered media (NutriSelect^® media) or superior, low-dust granulated media (GranuCult^® media).

Our growing range of halal-certified products currently includes:

• Media for air, surface, and personnel monitoring (environmental monitoring)
• Media for sterility testing in pharmaceutical production facilities
• Media for sterility testing in beverage production facilities
• Raw materials to produce dehydrated culture media

The culture media we offer are available in three QC levels, indicated by the brand extensions basic, plus, and prime. These reveal the degree to which they are compliant with international regulations. The prime level, for example, covers the full compliance spectrum of food, beverage, and pharmaceutical standards, including QC release under ISO accreditation for culture media described in food and beverage standards.

List of our Halal and Kosher-certified Culture Media

Halal Culture Media for Media Fill Tests

The performance of aseptic manufacturing procedures must regularly be assessed by so-called media fill tests (also known as a “process simulation tests”). In these microbiological simulations the pharmaceutical or beverage product is replaced by a sterile culture medium.

For media fill trials in halal-certified areas we now offer two culture media:

• Vegetable Peptone Broth halal & kosher (GranuCult^® prime) for use in the pharmaceutical industry, irradiated and triple-packed
• Linden Grain Medium halal & kosher (NutriSelect^® plus) for aseptic beverage bottling and ice-crusher installations (can also be used after freezing and thawing)

The formulation of the Vegetable Peptone Broth halal & kosher is prepared according to the recommendations of the current European and United States Pharmacopoeia (EP, 2.6.12. and USP, 61), but contains peptones of non-animal origin instead of the recommended peptones.

KOSHER CONSIDERATIONS AND PRODUCTS

Implications Your Culture Media Could Have for Your Kosher Certification

In addition to avoiding non-kosher ingredients, kosher manufacturing of culture media involves some specific challenges. For example, milk-derived ingredients may not be mixed with other animal-derived ingredients, and there are strict rules regarding the storage of materials and packaging. Equipment, too, can take on a non-kosher character if it has come into contact with non-kosher substances. It should not be used for kosher processes involving heating because the contacted raw materials would also become non-kosher. Where heat is used in processing, for example when producing culture media, dedicated equipment should be used. In cases where this is not feasible, it is possible to resort to kashering, the process of kosherizing equipment. This involves applying heat equivalent to cooking, typically steam, to the equipment under the direct supervision of a rabbi.

Kosher Certification of Products and Production Facilities

Rabbis and kosher certifying agencies review and certify manufacturing facilities, processes, and products for compliance with accepted kosher standards. Among the organizations are KF Kosher, the kosher foods department of the Federation of Synagogues, and Fidelity Kosher.

Meeting the Needs of Kosher-certified Manufacturers

Almost all of our halal certified culture media are also certified as kosher (excluding Passover) for use in food, beverage, pharmaceutical and cosmetics applications. Our range of kosher-certified culture media comes with individual certificates for each product, available on our website. These media can be used for contact plates, dip slides and further formats applied for microbiological quality control purposes in kosher manufacturing areas to make sure there are no implications for their status. These kosher certified culture media comply not only with Jewish dietary laws, but also with specified international regulations. They are:

• Free of non-kosher contamination
• Certified annually by the KF Kosher and Fidelity Kosher certifying agencies
• Compliant with ISO, EP, USP, JP, and FDA-BAM standards (if designated “prime”)

Note that all our kosher-certified culture media are also halal-certified.

Our Range of Kosher Dehydrated Culture Media

As a leading worldwide supplier of products and solutions for microbiological testing and monitoring in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and beverage industries, we offer our culture media as powdered media (NutriSelect® media) or superior, low-dust granulated media (GranuCult® media). Our growing range of kosher certified products currently includes:

• Media for air, surface, and personnel monitoring (environmental monitoring)
• Media for sterility testing in pharmaceutical production facilities
• Media for sterility testing in beverage production facilities

The culture media we offer are available in three QC levels, indicated by the brand extensions basic, plus, and prime. These reveal the degree to which they are compliant with international regulations. The prime level, for example, covers the full compliance spectrum of food, beverage, and pharmaceutical standards, including QC release under ISO accreditation for culture media described in food and beverage standards.

List of our Halal and Kosher-certified Culture Media

Kosher Culture Media for Media Fill Tests

The performance of aseptic manufacturing procedures must regularly be assessed by so-called media fill tests (also known as a “process simulation tests”). In these microbiological simulations the pharmaceutical or beverage product is replaced by a sterile culture medium. For media fill trials in kosher-certified areas we now offer two certified culture media:

• Vegetable Peptone Broth halal & kosher (GranuCult® prime) for use in the pharmaceutical industry, irradiated and triple-packed
• Linden Grain Medium halal & kosher (NutriSelect® plus) for aseptic beverage bottling and ice-crusher installations (can also be used after freezing and thawing)

The formulation of the Vegetable Peptone Broth halal & kosher is prepared according to the recommendations of the current European Pharmacopoeia (EP 2.6.12) and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP <61>), but contains peptones of non-animal origin instead of the recommended peptones.