Since polysaccharides cannot be sterilised by sterile filtration due to thehighviscosity of their aqueous solutions, they are generally sterilised by meansof gammaradiation or steam although this leads to degradation of the polymer chains.Thepresent invention provides a sterilisation method according to which anaqueouspolysaccharide solution is stored in the presence of a lactone and a buffersystem fora period of at least 24 hours. The invention also provides a sterilepolysaccharidesolution produced in this way.
