41st Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology
and 9th International Conference on Bacillus thuringiensis

The value in having Bt products with consistent performance and confirmed safety is an increase in consumer confidence, ultimately leading to increased use and demand of Bt products and potentially other biological control agents. However, poor quality control in even one company can damage the reputation of Bt’s and microbials in general. Assuring biopotency of products by using reliable standards is important, but is only one aspect of QC. At Valent BioSciences, quality control measures are applied at all stages of manufacturing, from strain identity to packaging and distribution of the final product. Recently, Bt products have been appearing in the worldwide market that demonstrate an obvious lack of quality control, even though biopotency may be met. In some cases the products have been misrepresented or adulterated. Thus, in addition to implementing high standards of quality control, it is in the interest of the entire biopesticide industry to provide stewardship for all products on the market.