Methods of determination and microbial characterization of bioburdenA.6.1 Determination of bioburdenA.6.I.I Selection of an appropriate methodFigure A.l is a decision tree that has general application in the initial stages of the selection of a method ofbioburden determination. This figure can apply to both culture and non-culture based methods.For a product with high bioburden and for which a culture method is employed, ensure that a sufficient number Of dilutions are carried out to obtain countable results and to prevent issues such as the masking of colonies or too numerous to count (TNTC) plates.