Environmental Swabs-Food Contact Surfaces

Hello,

I was told that we should sanitize the food contact surfaces after we swab with the 3M Sponge Stick 10ml buffered peptone water broth.   Does the peptone water broth present a risk to the food contact surfaces and the environment?  We usually swab during production and I would like to know if we should sanitize and dry the piece of equipment before running product again.

Thank you,

Nicole

Hello,

 

I was told that we should sanitize the food contact surfaces after we swab with the 3M Sponge Stick 10ml buffered peptone water broth.   Does the peptone water broth present a risk to the food contact surfaces and the environment?  We usually swab during production and I would like to know if we should sanitize and dry the piece of equipment before running product again.

 

Thank you,

Nicole

Hi Nicole,

I would expect it's routine to clean/sanitize areas tested assuming no problem for the equipment. What is the equipment ?

ntheobold84,

First of, what is your process? are your products produced by wet process or are your products produced by dry process?

If your process is wet ( or controlled wet) , I see no additional benefit of sanitizing after you swab. The buffer you is mainly to preserve. If you have it (micro contamination) already before you swabbed then sanitizing the spot where you take swab will not help significantly to reduce it. If you don't have it (micro contamination) before you swabbed the surface then sampling probably will not introduce any contamination.

Now, if your process is dry. I would suggest that you dry the surface thoroughly instead of sanitizing it. But it would be better if you use dry swab instead of wet sponges or pre-moistened swab.

Thanks

Hi Nicole,

if the surface is not moving like tables, etc. sanitation after swab is advisable. 

Our process is a wet washed cleaned daily and the equipment is stainless steel scales, vibratory tables, funnels, etc for food contact surfaces.  The food is frozen fruits and vegetables.  

Thank you for your feedback!

There is zero risk with the BPD

Poultry background here and we swabbed the birds with BPD 

Same sentiments as above - I was also in poultry and we swabbed carcasses with the same.  When I worked RTE I sanitized the swab site as others had done before me, but I did not feel it was necessary from a micro standpoint as the swab was sterile.  Rather, I continued to sanitize the swab site with an alcohol-based sanitizer to remove any residual moisture from the BPW that had the very slight chance of soaking into the one or two products (bread products) it might have had contact with and give an off-taste or wet texture.  The sanitizer served as a drying agent - dried quicker than the BPW solution residue would have.