Buy your Citric from needle exchanges not food shops

[daveywales]

Below is a reply I had to a question alot of users, current and past know little about, it makes frightning reading for heroin I.V users who may not know this.
 

The bacteria in citric I think you are referring to is a fungus called
'aspergillus niger' -it causes the lung infection referred to as 'farmer's
lung'.

Any citric that is 'BP' grade (pharmaceutical grade) -like the small boxes
you get in chemists has passes the British Pharmacopeoial (hence the initial
'BP') standards for this, which means it has been tested and does not have
harmful levels of the aspergillus in it. Additionally the Exchange Supplies
citric BP sachets and other sachets that say 'sterile' have also been
sterilised so they contain no bacteria or fungi whatsoever so are safest for
injecting because they are clean when opened.

Cooking citric like the kinds you are referring to from Asian food shops
only need to be 'food grade' because they are designed for cooking and the
stomach can cope with a certain amount of bugs in it. This means they are
not limit tested for aspergillus.

So, in short ideally people should use single use sachets (small pinches not
whole sachet) and if they can't get sachets they should use citric BP grade
not food grade.

Hope this helps,
Best wishes
Jenny

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dr Jenny Scott MRPharmS