Disinfectant Efficacy Testing - Coupon/Carrier Method

prior to use in the facility. Building a study with robust parameters and avoiding common pitfalls is critical to avoid negative responses from regulatory agencies. Spending more time on study design and development upfront will save valuable resources in the long run.
The goal of this presentation is to provide a general overview of disinfectant efficacy testing and to provide a detailed methodology to assist in designing coupon studies that accurately represent facility procedures. As we attempt to bridge the gap between laboratory conditions and environmental conditions, test method acceptance criteria and interpretation of coupon study results will also be discussed. Specifically, we aim to provide insight into how the results of a coupon study can be utilized to improve cleaning procedures.
Attendees will learn:
• Study Design - how to choose parameters that are representative of your facility while meeting regulatory expectations
• Indications that initial or subsequent disinfectant efficacy testing needs to be performed
• Interpretation of results - translating microorganism log reductions into useful information on the efficacy of facility cleaning procedures and disinfectants

[@lukaszporosa9847]

I agree, in a lab setting , disinfectants and sanitizers are very effective against microbes when their toxic levels (dose) could be maintained and delivered. That's a big leap to the real world where the products are used and unfortunately this doesn't always happen in the field and some sanitizers for food contact surfaces provide sub-lethal levels of the residual active ingredients for toxicity reasons whereby the microbes have been shown to adapt. Just look at all the evidence of pseudomonas spp. pumping out QAC's. Also failure to maintain the required contact time set's up conditions for adaptation. Sanitizer test methods claiming 99.9% kill are also NOT representative of real world efficacy because they are tested in solution instead of a real surface or with ASTM 2197. I would give them 30% efficacy in the real world at most and that's equivalent to much less than 1 log.

[@Victoriawakeup]

How do you make sure you don't contaminate the sterile coupons during the testing process. If you need to lie the coupon flat to apply the target organism on the top how do you keep the bottom sterile so if you are immersing the coupon fully you don't get contamination. How do you achieve that? Thanks