What are the best practices for identifying and addressing sample contamination?

Sample contamination is a common and costly problem in laboratory management, affecting the quality and reliability of your results. It can occur at any stage of the sample collection, processing, storage, or analysis, and can be caused by various factors, such as human error, environmental factors, cross-contamination, or equipment malfunction. To prevent or minimize sample contamination, you need to follow some best practices that can help you identify and address the sources and types of contamination, as well as implement corrective and preventive actions. Here are some of the best practices for identifying and addressing sample contamination in your laboratory.

1 Define your quality criteria

Before you start your sample analysis, you need to define your quality criteria, which are the standards or specifications that your samples must meet to be considered valid and acceptable. Your quality criteria should be based on your analytical objectives, methods, and requirements, as well as the characteristics and variability of your samples. You should also establish your quality control (QC) procedures, which are the techniques and activities that you use to monitor and verify the quality of your samples and analysis. Your QC procedures should include the use of blanks, standards, duplicates, and spikes, as well as the calculation of quality indicators, such as accuracy, precision, recovery, and detection limits.

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Theophilus Offei Darko

Medical Laboratory Scientist 🥼 | Operating Engineer 🦺 | Audio Visual Technician
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This criteria will ensure that specimen is not exceeding it's stability, collecting specimens in their appropriate tubes, transport temperature are within range to prevent contamination

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Jeanne Mamdu

Skin Care Certified Consultant | Esthetician Background | Product Manufacturing Expert | Product Designer of Natural, Plant-Based Anti-Aging Creams for Women & Men 50+ | E-commerce Business Owner
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I will share how I prep my work area and disinfect equipment and utensils being used. No matter how clean a surface may appear. There is always a chance microbes exist that the naked eye cannot see and because of this, when preparing to make products. It's very Its extremely important to spray Clorox Bleach on counters and use sterile disposables when wiping down the surface. The best practice for sterilizing equipment is to soak them overnight in Clorox. This kills all microorganisms rinse in hot water and let air dry. Rinse water with Clorox and having paper towels handy, will cut down cross-contamination as you work.

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2 Identify the sources and types of contamination

To identify the sources and types of contamination, you need to conduct a risk assessment, which is a systematic process of identifying and evaluating the potential hazards and impacts that can affect your sample quality. You should consider all the possible sources of contamination, such as biological, chemical, and physical. Biological contamination can affect the integrity and stability of your samples, while chemical contamination can interfere with your analytical methods or instruments. Physical contamination can damage your equipment or cause blockages or leaks. Additionally, you should consider the potential routes and modes of contamination, such as sample collection, processing, storage, and analysis. Improper or unclean containers, tools, or techniques during sample collection can introduce contamination, as can contaminated or incompatible materials during sample processing. Sample storage can introduce contamination if you use inappropriate or unlabelled containers, while sample analysis can introduce contamination if you use contaminated or faulty instruments. All these factors should be taken into consideration to ensure accurate results.

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Jeanne Mamdu

Skin Care Certified Consultant | Esthetician Background | Product Manufacturing Expert | Product Designer of Natural, Plant-Based Anti-Aging Creams for Women & Men 50+ | E-commerce Business Owner
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The containers that are purchased and before use should always be disinfected in Clorox or other disinfectant rinsed well in hot water and wiped dry. Do not take it for granted because they are new, they are free from containments.

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3 Address the contamination issues

To address the contamination issues, you need to implement corrective and preventive actions. This involves detecting and reporting the contamination issues, investigating and analyzing them, implementing and evaluating corrective actions, and implementing and evaluating preventive actions. When detecting contamination, it is important to identify and document any signs or symptoms of contamination, as well as communicate them to team members or supervisors. During investigation and analysis, root cause analysis tools such as fishbone diagrams or Pareto charts should be used to identify the factors that contribute to contamination. When implementing corrective actions, solutions should be applied and assessed to address the contamination issues, and their effectiveness monitored. For preventive actions, actions should be applied and assessed that can prevent or minimize contamination from occurring again. By following these best practices, you can identify and address sample contamination in your laboratory, ensuring the quality of your results.

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4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Unyime Udi B.Sc, PGDE, M.Ed, TRCN

SCHOOL GROWTH Strategist| Global Education Influencer- Nigeria | Reading Specialist | School Administrator | Teacher Trainer | I SPECIALIZE IN HELPING INDIVIDUALS START AND RUN A PROFITABLE SCHOOL
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This is a good one but I will like to add that it is important to avoid contamination in the first place. Prevention they say is better than cure. That's because prevention is more cheaper and cure is expensive. So avoid contamination by following lab procedures Ensure to clean your work surface first thing before carrying out any analysis and also do that after each analysis to avoid contamination. Make sure to sterilize equipment before use Use distilled water which is free of contamination as other water type can have some kind of contamination in them. Some microorganisms are found in water Try also to reduce how you transfer sample from one hand to another. Contamination can be introduced as samples move from one hand to another.

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Jeanne Mamdu

Skin Care Certified Consultant | Esthetician Background | Product Manufacturing Expert | Product Designer of Natural, Plant-Based Anti-Aging Creams for Women & Men 50+ | E-commerce Business Owner
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Some products are made using vegetable, and fruit extracts. I wash them with soap, water, and vinegar. I still find it helpful to make sure there are no microbes introduced into the creams, lotions, and oils. I spread a sample in a petri dish and then waited for 24 hours. This also helps me estimate the shelf life of a completed product since very few preservatives are used.

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What are the best practices for identifying and addressing sample contamination?

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1 Define your quality criteria

2 Identify the sources and types of contamination

3 Address the contamination issues

4 Here’s what else to consider

Laboratory Management

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