Microbial Air Samplers

Description

In recent years, across a broad range of industries are addressing concerns over the air quality within their manufacturing and production areas . Among these sectors are pharmaceutical companies, firms that manufacture personal care products, as well as applications within the food and beverage industry, hospitals, and environmental research facilities. Simply put, more and more companies are seeking to address the existence and amount of possible airborne bacterial and fungal bioburden in their laboratories and production locations. These toxins can adversely impact the quality of their manufactured products, as well as potentially create an unhealthy work environment.

Another way to define the issue: Where air quality is poor, it negatively impacts product output and public safety. Air quality plays a critical role in aseptic environments, clean rooms, and production areas. It is in these spaces where airborne microorganisms pose a potential risk for cross-contamination of both raw materials and the finished products. An effective solution has been to utilize microbial air samplers in each of these varied locations. Air samplers collect a known volume of air, making it easy to identify the number of airborne microorganisms and to analyze them. Air samplers now play a key role in preventing the risks associated with workplace air microbial load.

Key Benefits for Installing Microbial Air Samplers:

1. Ensures that a clean workspace is maintained.
2. Prevents cross-contamination of raw materials and finished products.
3. Active air sampling delivers quantitative data which can be analyzed
4. Air sampler models are portable, convenient, and easy to use and read

Note: air sampling is not to be confused with air monitoring. Think of air sampling as being similar to taking a snapshot of a workspace at a given moment in time. The air monitoring process is analogous  to taking a video of what occurs or a specific length of time.

Neutec proudly offers IUL’s air sampler models. Each model is compact and designed for easy transportation to enable sampling wherever needed. Their operation is very simple- a Petri dish is inserted and the device’s lid is screwed in place. Next, accurate volumes of air are sampled by forcing them towards the Petri plate’s agar surface. After incubation, colony counting enables evaluating microbial air quality.

Check the table below to determine the best model for your needs.

Microbial air sampling devices are widely used in Pharmaceutical and Personal care industries as well as Food, Beverage and Environmental applications. Regulation USP797 related to compounding pharmacies, requires active air sampling equipment in areas level 5 and above. IUL Instruments has established market acceptance for a novel device for microbial air sampling. The Spin Air, has taken the air sampling process to a new level with clear advantages for the user. For more information about this air sampler for environmental monitoring, click here.

Neutec Group offers a range of instruments used for air sampling. You can select from 3 available models based on the features you need (see table below). A wide range of accessories is offered including 60mm adaptors and Rodac plates adaptors made out of a variety of materials (aluminum and plastic), barcode reader, tripod and more.

Performance parameters –  Model comparison:

 * Must be used with the Spin Air model

Features and Benefits of Air Sampling Equipment

A unique rotating plate holder for even surface spread of microorganisms (Except the Basic Air model)
Sampling by volume (not timed) for higher accuracy and reproducibility
Utilizes standard 60mm or 90mm agar plates which are easy to find and inexpensive
Rechargeable battery operated for remote sampling
Delayed activation mode to avoid the collector’s contamination contribution
Optional duplicate simultaneous sampling with a low cost mate unit (Spin Air model only)
Bar code connectivity for faster easier collection of sample, location and user information (Spin Air Model)
Wide range of adaptors and accessories plastic and aluminum choices in 60mm, 90mm and Rodac sizes

Microbial Air Sampler FAQ

• What is a microbial air sampler?
  A microbial air sampler is a device used to collect and analyze airborne microorganisms to monitor air quality and identify potential contamination sources. They are used in many industries, including pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and healthcare.
  
• How to use an air sampler to detect microbial contamination?
  Steps include: Attach/position a sterile agar plate to the microbial air sampler, turn it on to draw a measured volume of air through the plate, incubate the plate to allow any collected microbes to grow into visible colonies, then count to determine the level of microbial contamination in the sample.
  
• How to test for microbes in the air using a microbial air sampler?
  The two main methods of using a microbial air sampler are: Active Air Monitoring which is ideal for situations with low microbial concentrations, or Passive Air Sampling, which is less aggressive but may not sample all microbes that are present in the sample.
  
• What is microbial air count?
  This refers to the Index of Microbial Air Contamination (IMA), which is a method for measuring the number of microbes from the microbial air sampler. It is primarily used in hospitals, food industries, art galleries and outdoors. 

• How do you detect microbial contamination?
  Bacterial toxins, such as those found in food and beverage samples, are analyzed using test kits including ELISA assays, PCR tests in real-time, as well as on nutrient and agar plates using a microbial air sampler.
  
• What are the techniques/methods of microbial sampling?
  There are several ways to test for microbial contamination. Using a microbial air sampler these include: Bacterial testing, Sterility testing, ATP bioluminescence, Microbiological culturing, Total bacterial and fungal counts, and Environmental monitoring.
  
• How does an air sampler work?
  There are a number of different types of microbial air samplers including Active, Canister, Filter paper, and Passive. They are all used to identify and quantify specific compounds/measure microorganism concentrations. The results are expressed in milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) and parts per million (ppm) for gases.
  
• How do you identify microorganisms in the air?
  Using a microbial air sampler there are several ways to identify airborne microorganisms including: Passive air sampling, Exposure plate technique, Impaction, and Active sampling. Once collected, samples are analyzed via Culturing, Microscopy, Fluorescence, Flow cytometry, ATP bioluminescence, and Molecular methodologies.