Contact Plate Testing

Contact plate testing is ideal for surfaces that are intended to be free from microorganisms or have strict quality control requirements.

Environmental Testing with Contact Plates

Microorganisms’ pervasive nature enable them to adapt and utilize nutrients available in their surrounding environments. In manufacturing facilities, it is essential to implement processes and systems to prevent microorganisms from contaminating controlled environments. Regular testing and monitoring can help to ensure that your cleaning protocols and sanitation procedures are working effectively and appropriately. Contact plate testing is ideal for surfaces that are intended to be free from microorganisms or have strict control. More specifically known as RODAC (replicate organism detection and counting) plates; they are used for microbiological monitoring of all surfaces. Identifying the presence of microorganisms allow manufacturers to make more stringent hygiene protocols, remediation procedures, and prevent cross-contamination of end-products.

As a 17025:2017 accredited, third-party microbiological testing lab, Trace Analytics is proud to offer contact plate testing for clients to help them meet certification requirements like ISO14698, ISO 14644, ISO 18593, SQF monitoring, and FDA monitoring. We can even work with you to test to your facilities’ custom monitoring plan.

contact plate testing

Service Info

0
Environmental Tests Per Year
0
Serving Customers Since
0
Manufacturers Served

Environmental Testing Tips

Why Perform Contact Plate Testing

Our triple-bagged, ready to use contact plates can be used for environmental monitoring of surfaces in critical cleanrooms, isolators, and non-critical areas. Contact plates are usually used to assure the cleanliness of the cleanrooms, laboratories, etc.

Manufacturing facilities that implement rigorous cleaning and sanitization procedures need to know they are always working effectively. Regular monitoring and testing for bacteria, yeast, and mold can help isolate areas that need re-training or additional supervision as well as prevent potential shutdowns, recalls, or loss of product. These contact plates are available with various growth media recipes that allow microbes to flourish.

Contact plate testing is ideal for customers who have multiple critical surfaces that need to be free of microorganisms or are monitored in strict control. They are best used on flat, stable surfaces, contact plate testing is effective on work benches, lab garments, and at-risk areas.

Contact our microbial testing experts today.

What to Test For

microbial testing for bacteria

Bacteria

Can live in every environment, including extreme conditions. Bacterial contamination is considered a critical aspect for food and pharma manufacturers. Bacteria can spoil products, consume the product’s nutrients, or harm the consumers.

microbial testing for yeast

Yeast

Can be particularly beneficial to some food and pharma manufacturers, but an overgrowth can have negative impacts. Consumer illness, decomposition of foods, and resistance to decontamination processes are all negative effects of yeast contamination.

microbial testing for mold

Mold

Can be found anywhere that moisture and oxygen are present. Mold can grow on any type of food, so food and beverage manufacturers should be particularly cautious of mold contamination. Oil droplets, water, and air can create a favorable breeding ground for mold to grow.

Testing with Trace Analytics

To facilitate environmental testing and monitoring, Trace Analytics offers top of the line analysis options including: total plate count, Gram staining, Presumptive Identification and phenotypic microbial identification. Trace’s microbiology laboratory is A2LA accredited to ISO 17025:2017.

Contact us for more information on environmental monitoring please contact our exceptional team of experts. Need more testing? We also offer swab testing, ambient air testing, and compressed air testing

Learn More

How Contact Plate Testing Works

RODAC stamping can detect as few as one colony forming unit. Plates are usually stamped, rolled or depressed onto the surface, labeled and sent to the laboratory for analysis.

An excellent add on to ambient air or compressed air testing, contact plates can be utilized easily and quickly for surface sampling. Simply press the contact plate onto the surface to be tested, wrap up the plate, and return it to Trace Analytics for analysis. We have options for analysis including: Total Plate Count, Gram staining, and microbial identification.

Learn More

Other Environmental Testing Services

MICROBIAL ID

Determine the genus/species of microbes present in your system.

SWAB TESTING

Sample hard-to-reach places and uneven surfaces with swabs.

AMBIENT AIR

Test ambient air for microbes with passive or active sampling.

trace analytics - the compressed air testing lab

Testing Made SimpleAccurateEasy

Trace Analytics’ laboratory is accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation. We use state-of-the-art lab equipment that allows us to analyze hundreds of compressed air and environmental samples daily. The result is consistency, accuracy, precision, and rapid turnaround. Trace is an A2LA accredited laboratory complying with ISO 17025, certificate #0322-01.