PDA Glossary

Particles that should not be present in excipients, APIs, intermediates, and final oral dosage forms, and their presence should always trigger an investigation. These particles consist of foreign matter that is not intended/designed to be in direct contact with the product/manufacturing process. These particles commonly originate from materials which accidently or unintentionally come into contact with the product or a process stream. (TR78)

Those particles that are not part of the formulation, package, or assembly process but rather are foreign and unexpected. Materials such as rubber, metal, and plastic are defined as extrinsic in cases where the specific material identified is not a product-contact material. (TR78)

Foreign material that comes from outside the primary process.  Often these are from the manufacturing environment or incomplete cleaning of components. They are uncontrolled. (TR85)

Those particles that arise from sources related to the formulation, packaging, or assembly proces­ses. In each of these cases, the particle material (e.g., glass, stainless steel, rubber, or gasket ma­terial) could be identified as a known product-contact material. (TR78)

A particle that comes from within the primary process.  These are qualified product contact materials and are often associated with the primary packaging components.  They are unplanned but not unexpected.(TR85)

Particles that are visibly different from the bulk of the material when viewed with the naked eye within the container or against a suitable back­ground (e.g., size, shape, color, number, texture) and are inherent to the manufacturer’s process, product, or raw materials. The unintended pres­ence of a small quantity of particles, stemming from impurities of natural or synthetic ingre­dients, the manufacturing process, storage, or migration from packaging that is technically un­avoidable in good manufacturing practice, and do not pose a risk to patient safety. (TR78)