Contamination persists after dispensing with the automatic powder dispensing machine

Abstract

We tested whether surface contamination occurs after packaging probiotic powder (Biofermin; contains 1.1x10⁹ colony forming units (cfu) Enterococcus faecalis) after one use of a fully-automated powder packaging machine. The machine was washed normally once, as recommended followed by three rounds of rinsing in lactose as a means for additional wash. We quantified the viable bacteria in the lactose rinse in the three separate attempts, finding 1.4x10⁵ cfu/g in the first, 6.5x10⁴ cfu/g in the second, and 2.0x10⁴ cfu/g E. faecalis in the third rinse. We found that three additional wash still leaves 0.019%, 0.009% and 0.003% of the bacteria in the automated machine respectively to each trial. The results suggest that contamination of the automated machine persists even after three additional wash with lactose. It further suggests that preparing cancer therapy drugs , for example, by automated powder packaging machine may carry some contamination risks.