Astell has been helping organisations achieve effective steam sterilization for more than 140 years. Over that time, we have learned that a veterinary diagnostic laboratory carries the same microbiology as a human clinical lab, plus the extra dimension of animal and, at times, public health. This article draws on lessons from an anonymised veterinary diagnostic and services laboratory.
The challenge: results that reach beyond one patient
A veterinary diagnostic lab works with much the same microbiology as a human clinical lab, plus one extra consideration: its samples come from animals — often livestock — and its results feed decisions about animal health and welfare, and, where zoonotic organisms are involved, human health too. That raises the stakes on both halves of the autoclave’s job: clean media in, safely-decontaminated waste out.
Why a compact front-loader suits the daily mix
In practice a veterinary services lab tends to run a compact front-loading autoclave for the daily mix — preparing culture media for pathogen identification, sterilizing glassware and instruments, and decontaminating used cultures and diagnostic waste before it leaves the lab. In animal- and plant-health settings that mix is real and varied: metal instruments and forceps, sample and falcon tubes, media bottles, and bagged diagnostic waste all pass through the same machine. On a benchtop unit those jobs run as separate stored cycles — a fluids programme for media, a waste-destruct programme for used plates and cultures, the latter loaded in an open container rather than sealed in a bag. The format suits a lab that wants a comfortable working height and dependable, routine operation without giving up a lot of floor space.
A typical arrangement would be culture media on a 121°C cycle held for 15 minutes, with contaminated diagnostic material taken through a waste-destruct cycle at 121°C or above before disposal.
What this means for veterinary labs
The priorities are dependability and safe, reliable decontamination — a machine a small team can trust to prepare clean media and to neutralise potentially infectious samples consistently, because the results resting on it matter to more than just the patient in front of them.
How Astell can help
In this type of application, Astell can help veterinary laboratories match a compact autoclave and its stored cycles to a mixed diagnostic workload with a decontamination duty. If you have a similar challenge, or another autoclave-related question, contact Astell to discuss it. With hundreds of autoclaves available, highly customisable builds, versatile installation options and an expert team of in-house service engineers, Astell has the skills and experience to help solve your steam sterilization challenges. Contact Astell today at Info@Astell.com.
