Wet-vacuum systems are routinely used in many private and industrial situations including some food surfaces but has not been readily used to collect surface bacteria for routine analysis. Liquid rinsing of surfaces has been proposed as a more efficient method of detaching and collecting surface pathogens, although convenient recovery of the rinse solution and suspended surface particles have presented numerous challenges in the past.
Some of the benefits of a liquid rinse, wet-vacuum collection device include consistent and repeatable volumes of formulated solutions applied and retrieved under constant application and vacuum pressures. Surface area covered per sample could be limited only by the size of the collection container, therefore would allow research or QC personnel to more effectively rinse and sample a larger surface area. Since rinse application and vacuum retrieval pressures remain consistent across the entire sampling surface, harmonization possibilities between users and facility locations could be improved. The combined affects of moving liquid (with or without surfactants or other additives) and air across the sampling surface would provide a multitude of interacting forces to improve bacterial detachment during collection. Vacuum retrieval of the surface suspension of bacteria would eliminate the elution (from the sampling device) by providing a liquid sample for the lab with pathogens already in suspension. These benefits to the laboratory would be far reaching and promote more efficient analysis, faster turn around of results and decreased probabilities of false negative results.
