Swabs for environmental sampling

Sterile swabs for sampling environmental surfaces and equipment, for subsequent microbiological analysis.

Swabs are available in many types, with a tip of cotton, viscose, polyester or other material and a stem of wood, polypropylene, polystyrene etc.

The swabs listed are only a part of those we can supply, contact us for information.

Swabs can be packaged in:

plastic test tubes
peel-pouch envelopes
triple bag for Clean Room

Dry or humidified?

The range of swabs includes:

dry swabs
pre-moistened swabs with ISO 18593 neutralizing solutions or other solutions
dry swabs combined with ISO 18593 neutralizing solutions or other solutions

Short environmental sampling swabs

Long environmental sampling swabs

How to sample surfaces with swabs

The swabs are suitable for sampling small (≤ 100 cm²) and smooth surfaces or difficult to reach points, even for high microbial contamination.

The swabs come dry or pre-moistened, with tips and sticks made of various materials.

Before use, the swabs are moistened with a diluent to increase the effectiveness of sampling, ensuring that there is no excess liquid when smearing.

The sampling site must be delimited with a sterile square or delimiter with a side of 10x10 cm (5x5 cm delimiters also exist). The swab should be passed over the entire delimited area, pressing and rotating it, and should be swiped across the surface in a horizontal, vertical and diagonal direction approximately 10 times in each direction.

The swabs should be placed in a tube containing saline solution or transport medium and sown on the desired media and then incubated. This allows us to establish the number of CFU present and therefore the number of microorganisms per square centimeter.

The sample must be examined within 24 hours.