develop consensus standards for use by TNI's programs. This group has a support role in assisting other programs with activities such as guidance and standards interpretation.
fosters the generation of data of known and documented quality is through the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, or NELAP. The purpose of this program is to establish and implement a program for the accreditation of environmental laboratories.
is to establish and maintain a national PT program to support TNI’s National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, and other activities.
Field Activities Program (NEFAP) Executive Committee is to establish and implement an accreditation program for field sampling and measurement organizations (FSMOs).
Audit Sample Program is to develop consensus standards for the manufacture and analysis of audit samples for source emission testing.
on a variety of topics of interest to the environmental measurement community. TNI also hosts two regularly scheduled meetings per year, typically in January and August. Both are a week long and involve open meetings of TNI committees as well as training courses and other special sessions.Combined Interpretations of the 2003, 2009, and 2016 Standards that apply to Volume 1 of the 2016 TNI Standard
Question: In Standard Methods there is a requirement to do at least one positive sample verification monthly, in some cases 10% etc. What if you do not have any positive samples, should you do a positive verification anyway? I see that for DW (source) even if you do not have any positive samples, a positive verification check is to be done quarterly. How about the other type of waters? For example to check any false negatives? Frequency? TNI Response: Questions involving specific methods should be directed to the writer of the method. The requirement for positive controls exists so that the lab can demonstrate that IT isn't the reason there are no positives, i.e., it isn't doing something that causes no growth. TNI Response: No, the Standard does not allow for a mix of culture controls for testing media. The media for each method must be tested with a pure positive culture control of each target organism separately. In 1.7.3.6.c, the Standard states that microorganisms may be "cultures maintained for their intended use by documented procedures that demonstrate continued purity and viability" of the target organism(s). The "continued purity of the culture" ensures the culture contains a single strain of organism. .
MODULE 5: MICROBIOLOGY TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Section: 1.7.3.6
Question: Please clarify if the requirement to test each pre-prepared, ready-to-use lot of medium and each batch of medium prepared in the laboratory is with a mix of pure positive culture controls, which would be the equivalent to a raw sewerage sample, or if the test is with a pure positive controls conducted separately for each culture.
