At the beginning of March 2022, Novolyze participated virtually at the 41st Annual General Meeting of the Institute for Thermal Processing Specialists. During the conference, several topics were presented and discussed: Aseptic Processing, In-Container Sterilization, Microbiology and Regulatory Updates...
On the third day of the conference, in the Microbiology session, Laure Pujol, Associate Research Fellow at Novolyze presented "Tips and Tricks- Considerations on Surrogate Selection, Calibration and Applications." The presentation was well received, with 168 attendees. It started with why a validation should be conducted and what regulations are associated with it. The first methodological point was on the best practices for process validation which included the 3Ps Methodology and the grouping strategy when conducting a validation.
Then, a special focus was made on the use of surrogates for conducting an in-plant validation. Further what needs to be checked and how it is checked prior using the surrogates which mimic the pathogen was discussed. Some examples were presented on low water activity foods. Later in the presentation, more methodological aspects were described: conducting an in-plant validation, analytical work, and validation report.
At the end of the session a round table was conducted to answer any questions the audience asked. There were many questions related to the technical aspect of validation: How to calculate the log reduction? What is the best approach when validating one equipment with many products?
If you want to know more about Novolyze's validation offers, contact us and one of our experts will get back to you.