This document details the test procedure for assessing whether an item of food processing equipment, intended for aseptic operation, is impermeable to micro-organisms.

Small motile bacteria penetrate far more easily through microscopic passages than (non-motile) moulds and yeast.

The facultative anaerobic bacterium Serratia marcescens (CBS 291.93) is therefore used to test bacteria-tightness or the impermeability of equipment to micro-organisms.

The method is suitable for equipment that is already known to be in-line steam sterilisable (see also Doc 5).