A medium recommended by the Harmonised European Pharmacopoeia for isolation and identification of Clostridia from non-sterile pharmaceutical products.
Conforms to USP/EP/JP performance specification. Originally described as a general purpose nutritious agar base by Ellner et al. at Columbia University that can be enriched by the addition of sterile blood. The peptone mixture and yeast extract provides a source of nitrogen, essential vitamins and amino acids. The starch provides a carbon source and sodium chloride maintains osmotic balance. The Harmonised European Pharmacopoeia states that where necessary, gentamicin sulfate at a concentration of 20mg/L can be added after sterilisation to reduce the growth of non-target organisms. According to the Harmonised European Pharmacopoeia, Reinforced Medium for Clostridia is used as a selective enrichment broth, with subculture performed onto Columbia Agar.