Hello and happy Thursday everyone.
Ive been sampling at my facility for about 3 months, and the results im receiving are very inconsistent (even though that is the idea of EM, im having trouble maintaining a state of control). When I came on board, the supplies they have are these (https://www.sosclean...BiABEgKEbfD_BwE) 3M environmental samplers with an abrasive padding to break up biofilm. Ive reviewed the past year of data, and similar results are being seen. High TNTC Counts in random areas, nothing to correlate, and our limits are very stringent (<100 required for passing). I am swabbing after sanitation, due to the nature of the facility I cannot implement a program where I allow product to run for a couple hours and then swab, our runs are about 45 min - 3 hours. Previous years results show that they have HUNDREDS of tests that are 0-20 APC readings, and I believe they were just using a qtip swab or soft sponge. My question is, unless im doing investigation for biofilm, would it be wise to switch to a soft sponge/qtip swabbing method. I feel like im shooting myself in the foot with the abrasive swabs, im starting to drown in CAPA reports. Does anyone have experience with these samplers? Thank you!