Antimicrobial Test Laboratories attended the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) mid-year meeting in Chicago from May 6-8, 2014.  At that meeting Susan Lewis, head of EPA’s Antimicrobial Division, indicated that EPA’s data call in for quaternary ammonium-based disinfectants will be coming soon, probably no later than early 2015.  

Quaternary ammonium pesticide registrants may benefit from lining up testing early, since EPA plans to require data for quaternary ammonium products on the main test microorganisms (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa). For companies with several active registrations, this will represent a large endeavor and may require hundreds of studies to be conducted using the new AOAC test parameters.  Antimicrobial Test Laboratories routinely runs the current version of the AOAC Use Dilution Test method.