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Question: What areas should be swabbed, and what is the proper technique?
Answer:
Food contact areas (direct and indirect) and hard to clean areas should be the main focus of your swabbing program. Direct contact areas are surfaces where presence of any contaminant will contaminate the final product. Indirect contact areas are those where splashed product, dust, or liquid has the potential to be dropped, drained, or drawn into the product. Hard to clean areas may include filler heads, O-rings, nozzles, and areas with irregularly shaped surfaces, corners, grooves and cracks. You should swab an area that is about 4 by 4 square inches (10 x 10 cm), or in the case of a hard to clean area, as much of the surface as possible. Do not let the swab come into contact with anything other then the test area to avoid contamination. Apply pressure to the swab to pick up surface residue and, if present, break through a biofilm. After swabbing, place swab back in swab tube. The sample can be left inactivated for up to 4 hours, but once the swab has been activated, it should be read in the SystemSURE II within 10-60 seconds.
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