CAGE PROCESSING in Animal Facilities - Felasa

7.1.4 DryingDrying means the process of removing water off items inside and outside a washer to a degree required for furtherprocessing or intended item use (tolerable residual moisture). The operator must determine, on individual conditionsand circumstances, the required degree of drying or if a drying is at all required before issuing a tender.7.2 Test procedures for washing and decontamination of cages, racks,and wire lidsWashing and decontamination tests require specially set up test strips. Although soiling is primarily related toplastic surfaces, this material has low adhesive properties and may affect the properties of the test soiling, forthis procedure we have selected strips made of stainless steel, not plastic. Stainless steel pieces are alreadyproven for the test for commercial dishwashers (DIN 10510, DIN 10512) and bed frame and cart decontaminationsystems (AK-BWA Broschüre – AK-BWA brochure; series of standards DIN 58955) in the medical sector.Please find below a description of the setup of test strips, followed by a description of test procedures.7.2.1 Setup of test strips and test parametersA test strip must be fixed approximately 5 mm from the surface of the item to be processed. This setup allowsfor a complete washing around the test strip, reaching also the non-contaminated rear side, and avoids evaluationmistakes resulting from gaps between test strip and real item. The use of stainless steel bolts and spacernuts is recommended. The contaminated part of the test strip must face the same direction as the item surfaceto be washed.Fig. 7-1 Example test cage7.2.1.1 Cage bases7.2.1.1.1 Number of test strips per cage base5 test strips per cage baseFig. 7-2 Position of test strips on cage body48Cage Processing in Animal Facilities · 4th issue · 2013