Water, air, surfaces quality standards for Micro.Laboratory

Hi all,

I am seeking help of experienced professionals on this forum. I am wondering if there is reference or data avaialble regrading folloiwng

1) Microbial limits for swabs of benches, handles, equipments etc for a food microbiology lab
2) air quality parameters and limits for a microbiology lab

3) microbial and chemical standards/limits for distil water to be used in lab

I will be very thankful if someone can help me thank you

chaudhry

Hi all,

I am seeking help of experienced professionals on this forum. I am wondering if there is reference or data avaialble regrading folloiwng

1) Microbial limits for swabs of benches, handles, equipments etc for a food microbiology lab
2) air quality parameters and limits for a microbiology lab

3) microbial and chemical standards/limits for distil water to be used in lab

I will be very thankful if someone can help me thank you

chaudhry

Dear atiqchaudhry,

I will try No.1.

(Some specific details of responses to yr queries 1-3 may well depend on the anticipated range of micro species to be handled, eg contamination risks. I hv assumed a relatively low level of sensitivity).

There are many threads on this forum concerning microbial swab limits of food contact surface (fcs) or employee hands.

AFAIK Canada has no general official requirements for fcs in any location but not impossible. Have seen some local Canadian guidelines but only for environmental related surfaces (from memory).

Most data is focused on mesophilic plate count, coliform, E.coli, Enterobacteriaceae , S.aureus etc..
Suggested global limits / guidelines can vary enormously for some variables, eg plate count.

I have not so far seen any specific limits for food micro. laboratories but presumably limits would target the “strictest” end within the typical range of possibilities. If so, this (UK, 2003) extract from an abstract may interest you –

The EC Decision laying down rules for the regular checks on the general hygiene carried out by operators of meat establishments (2001/471/EC)12 provides that cleaned and disinfected surfaces sampled using the agar contact plate or swab technique should have an acceptable range of 0-10 cfu/cm2 for Total Viable counts (TVC) and 0-1
cfu/cm2 for Enterobacteriaceae. TVC and Enterobacteriaceae counts above these ranges are unacceptable and should be clarified by consultation with the cleaning staff.

As a guideline, the US Public Health Service recommends that adequately cleaned and disinfected food service equipment have not more than 1000 total number of viable microorganisms per square decimetre sampled (13), which is equivalent to not more than 10 cfu/cm2. Microbial target values of <2.5 cfu/cm2 have been suggested and have been found to be attainable for a range of surfaces that have been cleaned and disinfected (14,15).

A review I did here in 2008 is summarised here –

http://www.ifsqn.com...dpost__p__22352

For later info, could try searching for “swab”. For example, can compare this UK 2012 data.

UK 2012 swab limits -food contact surfaces.doc   92KB   95 downloads

Rgds / Charles.C