Sending us a sample

Tell us the matrix, the parameters you need and how many samples you are sending. We confirm in writing that the determination is one we run, what the sample requirement is, and what it will cost, before anything travels. That confirmation is deliberate: it prevents the situation where a sample arrives, cannot be tested as submitted, and has to be redrawn.

Use clean, food-grade, leak-proof containers with a secure closure. Sterile containers are required for any microbiological determination and are supplied by the laboratory on request. Do not reuse a container that held something else, and do not decant into a bottle that once held a cleaning product.

Send enough. A determination that needs more material than arrived cannot be completed, and a retest needs reserve. As a working rule, send at least double what a single determination consumes.

Microbiology

Sterile container, minimum 200 g or 200 mL

Chemistry

Clean container, minimum 250 g or 250 mL

Water

Laboratory bottle, 1 L chemical, 250 mL sterile for micro

Contaminants

Minimum 500 g, more for heterogeneous product

Sensory

Full retail units, quantity agreed per test design

Chilled samples travel chilled and frozen samples travel frozen. A frozen sample that arrives thawed is a different sample, and for microbiological work the result is no longer meaningful.

Use ice packs, not loose ice, so meltwater cannot enter the container. Keep transit as short as practicable, and tell us when a sample is dispatched so it is expected on arrival rather than sitting in reception.

A frozen sample that arrives thawed will be recorded as received out of condition. We will tell you, and we will not quietly test it anyway.

Every container needs a unique identifier that matches the submission form, the product description, the batch or lot, and the date and time of sampling. A sample labelled only with a product name cannot be traced back to anything.

A completed submission form must travel with the samples. It records who sampled, when, from where, what is requested, and any hazard we should know about. Chain of custody is signed at handover, so the record of who held the sample is unbroken from your floor to the bench.

Samples are checked against the form, condition is recorded, and each is given a laboratory identity. Anything received out of condition, insufficient in quantity or inadequately labelled is reported to you before testing rather than after, so you can decide whether to proceed or redraw.

Standard turnaround runs from acceptance, not from dispatch. Retention is fifteen days after the report is issued, and three days for perishable items, unless extended retention is agreed at submission.