Do you know why our vials don’t have aluminum center seals?

We don’t use aluminum center seals for our media for many reasons:

• Sterility:  Many customers feel the need to have the center seal on their vials because they believe it keeps the septum sterile. In actuality, many technicians will use a box cutter, knife, or other sharp object to break and remove the center seal. These objects can contaminate septum. Therefore, the seals have no purpose. Alcohol pads need to be used to sterilize the septum before inoculation regardless.

 

• Safety:  Many technicians will puncture the center seal with a syringe during inoculation, due to the fact that removing the seal is time consuming. To puncture the center seal with a syringe, pressure needs to be applied causing the needle or the vial to break causing injuries to technicians or anyone around. Also, since the outside of the cap is not sterile, puncturing the seal will only contaminate your medium.

 

• Saving Money:  It is very time consuming to remove every single seal from each cap, therefore many employee hours are spent trying to remove seals. By not having center seals, our media vials reduce your company’s labor costs.

 

• Littering:  In the field, at your customer’s location or in your lab, aluminum seals are nothing more than an unnecessary burden.