ABSTRACT
Disinfectant products containing chemical agents, and disinfection processes involving heat or other agents, are marketed worldwide for use in a variety of situations which include medicine, agricultural and veterinary practice, and food, domestic, and public hygiene. In laboratory testing of disinfectants, the ultimate purpose is to establish whether products meet agreed efficacy requirements under practical conditions, whether this is a critical hospital situation, processing surfaces in the food or pharmaceutical industries, or the decontamination of hands. In designing any program of disinfectant testing, one of the first considerations must be the choice of test strains. Challenge inocula for disinfectant testing may be grown on solid or liquid media. Investigations by M. M. A. Al-Hiti and P. Gilbert showed that the choice of medium may affect sensitivity to biocides. Inocula for disinfectant testing are typically grown by overnight incubation on nutrient-rich complex media.
