Flours effect on APC count?
hey everyone
I have been in charge of performing weekly APC swabs in our plant.
we have had pretty consistent results, but recently our APC count has gone up in trend.
I am still investigating the root cause and was wondering if raw flour will affect the APC swab results.
I know that all raw flour will contain some bacterial count, but will this affect the overall APC swab results?
I ask this because nothing within the process has changed in the past few months, but we did start having a bit of problem with flour buildup on our air circulation system.
I am feeling pretty good about the correlation between the flour buildup and the high APC counts, but wanted a few more "second" opinion.
thanks!
If the flour in your air circulation system is getting moist, then it will mold and you will get mold spores in the environment which will more than likely lead to higher readings.
Marshall
hey everyone
I have been in charge of performing weekly APC swabs in our plant.
we have had pretty consistent results, but recently our APC count has gone up in trend.
I am still investigating the root cause and was wondering if raw flour will affect the APC swab results.
I know that all raw flour will contain some bacterial count, but will this affect the overall APC swab results?
I ask this because nothing within the process has changed in the past few months, but we did start having a bit of problem with flour buildup on our air circulation system.
I am feeling pretty good about the correlation between the flour buildup and the high APC counts, but wanted a few more "second" opinion.
thanks!
Hi ynghl,
I assume you sample work surfaces just after cleaning/sanitising ?.
The swab result should reflect the cleaning efficiency, eg is there visible flour remaining on sampled surfaces after cleaning. I hope not.
APC swab counts can also be notoriously variable due to a variety of possible causes.
Probably need some context/data to enable more substantive comments.
Hi ynghl,
I assume you sample work surfaces just after cleaning/sanitising ?.
The swab result should reflect the cleaning efficiency, eg is there visible flour remaining on sampled surfaces after cleaning. I hope not.
APC swab counts can also be notoriously variable due to a variety of possible causes.
Probably need some context/data to enable more substantive comments.
yes the surfaces are swabbed approximately 10 to 15 min after they are fully sanitized.
because we use "leave on" sanitizer we let the surface dry a bit before swabbing.
the suppliers did recommended that we swab almost immediately after sanitizing...but I would think that would skew the results since we would be swabbing surfaces with pools of sanitizer, so we are holding off on any changes to the procedures.
yes the surfaces are swabbed approximately 10 to 15 min after they are fully sanitized.
because we use "leave on" sanitizer we let the surface dry a bit before swabbing.
the suppliers did recommended that we swab almost immediately after sanitizing...but I would think that would skew the results since we would be swabbing surfaces with pools of sanitizer, so we are holding off on any changes to the procedures.
Hi ynghl,
10-15 min sounds OK assuming no residual sanitizer and visibly clean.
I would initially suggest you investigate any differences on (C/S + Washed) vs C/S .
I only have experience with final washing but, as you say, sanitisers are well-known to be potential interferences (offhand the supplier's suggestion sounds weird, maybe ask them how they validated "no interference")
It also may all depend on the process/procedure/numbers.
Is your ambient air testing showing any similar rising trend?