Environmental Monitoring (EM) Made Easy

Rapid and simple monitoring of the manufacturing environment

In manufacturing facilities there is a need to demonstrate that the production equipment and environment are sufficiently clean so that the next production lot will not be contaminated by the material from the previous lot, removing the potential of cross contamination. One needs to prove with high degree of certainty that the cleaning process was effective. To do so an effective sampling plan needs to be established.

The BioLumix system can be utilized for rapid and simple monitoring of the manufacturing environment. After swabbing the appropriate area the swab can be directly inserted into the vial (or further diluted and then inserted into the vial). Results for various groups of organisms can be obtained overnight. The BioLumix allows for quick and effective data analysis and trending of the results.

Typical Swabbing Procedure:

1. Wet the swab with Butterfield’s buffer.
2. Set the 5 cm x 5 cm template on the area to be swabbed.
3. Swab the area while rotating swab-head in a crosshatch or zig-zag pattern across the entire 250 cm2 (5*5 cm m2) While rotating the swab-head move from side to side across and cover the surface in three directions:
4. After swabbing, cut the shaft of the swab to fit the vial
5. Place the cut swab into the appropriate vial 
6. Insert the vial into the instrument.

Swabs are typically used in conjunction with the following vials:

• Total aerobic count
• Coliform
• Enterobacteriaceae
• E. coli
• Gram negative
• Yeast and mold