2 replies to this topic

[thutch655]

Does anyone have any knowledge of biofilm detection lights (hand held) do they have to be expensive or can a UV flashlight aid in this area.

 

Recently had environmental swabbing done on an outlet valve with a result of >4900 while the ATP result came back with 0.  Thinking I did the test incorrectly or compromised the swab somehow I did it again with the same results.

 

I know our cleaning protocols are good, but I've never had this result before and am wondering if taking the valves off periodically to manually clean may be needed.  Thus the idea of using a light of some sort to see if we detect anything.

 

Looking for the best value to determine if this is feasible.

 

Thoughts?

[G M]

Biofilms are composed of a wide array of molecules, I can only guess that a regular UV flashlight and an appropriate indicator solution that will react with the type of biofilm you have problems with is all that is needed.

 

Have you submitted samples for speciation to know what your problem organisms are?

[GMO]

I would trust a micro lab result 100x more than any ATP result.  I once had an operator come to me and say a line was visibly dirty yet the ATP result was 0.  My question was "why did you swab it?"

 

An outlet valve can be difficult to clean with a CIP set and will normally require some level of manual cleaning.  How do you know your cleaning processes are good?