Purpose: The FLOQSwab, thanks to the innovative manufacturing technology, allows improvements to the efficiency of recovery and release of analyte. The study has been divided into 2 experiments.
Methods: In the first experiment the two swabs were evaluated for their capacity to recover and release the analyte (three different bacterial loads of E. coli). In the second experiment, the two swabs were evaluated for their capacity to recover three different bacterial loads of E. coli from two different surface materials (stainless steel and polypropylene).
Results: In all experiments the flocked swab demonstrated a higher recovery rate compared to the traditional rayon tipped swab.
Significance: The data obtained from this preliminary study demonstrated that the FLOQSwab can be a good food surfaces collection device that improves the recovery of the analyte and thus produce accurate results. Based on the outcomes of the study, a larger field study is in progress using the FLOQSwab for sample collection to improve both environmental monitoring and the efficacy of the hygiene controls for food safety