NBIMCC maintains and supplies most of the microorganisms included in the WDCM Reference Strain Catalogue. This catalogue has been created to facilitate the access to the reference strains listed by the ISO TC 34 SC 9 Joint Working Group 5 and by the Working Party on Culture Media of the International Committee on Food Microbiology and Hygiene. According to the publication of these bodies, the WDCM catalogue meets the need to establish a unique identification system for the recommended test strains. That way, the equivalent strains in the reference culture collections can be identified by their WDCM code.
According to ISO 11133, European Pharmacopoeia and other microbiological standards, test strains are being used for quality control of culture media, for testing disinfectants, antibiotics, preservatives, cosmetic products, sterility, antimicrobial sensitivity, etc.
The control strains offered by the NBIMCC are indicated as "certified reference strains". They have passed quality control for morphological and phenotypic properties.
