formed with a moistened swab with enrichment broth or agar (rodac)
contact plates, says Dr. Greene. "In either case, the sample is sent to a
lab and analyzed for the total number of microbial colonies. In the
most basic way, samples can be analyzed for total aerobic plate count
(ACC). For the ACC test, a benchmark of <2.5cfu/cm
2
of microbiolog-
ical growth is used as
an indicator of cleanli-
ness."
The good news is
that it is becoming
increasingly afford-
able to look for specif-
ic microbes of interest
as well, such as VRE,
MRSA and C. diff.
Although microbial
swabbing can generally
take up to 48 hours to
get a result, Dr. Greene
believes it is far superi-
or for assessing micro-
biological contamina-
tion and worth using
for routine monitoring
and validation of clean-
ing processes.
"Microbiological
assessment of cleanli-
ness," she argues, "is
the only way to know if
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