Mold Audit,
Inspection to prevent appearance of mold

Due to worldwide exchanges, many factories are faced with overstocking of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products. The international import and export trade situation is still unclear in the short term. At this time, it is very important to prevent the mold spread in the process of manufacturing, storage and packaging. Failure to deal with mold may result to awful smell, discoloration and irreversible damage of your products.

 

1 – Prevention at the source - « Mold Audit »

The "Mold Audit" by CTC is a specific audit that CTC deploys at your suppliers factory in the countries of production on your raw materials, your semi-finished or finished products.

CTC Mold Audit is an audit service proposed by CTC in order to prevent appearance of mold. This audit is performed by a qualified mold audit team who has formal training and experience with mold inspections.

CTC covers in a man-day all the sections namely:

 

Service	Description	Detail	Price
“Mold audit”	Factory visit, risk analysis, issuance of the audit report and prevention plan	1 day	On request

• The CTC Audit report is issued within 48 hours after the visit of the CTC auditor.

 

1. Factory building and maintenance
2. Materials and finished goods storage
3. Production process
4. Finished goods Packaging
5. Transportation
6. Training

Based on CTC Standard, made of above six audit sections, in the report, auditor will generate overall % audit score with details clarification. CTC will provide suggestions for improvement based on your root cause findings.
Besides, CTC is able to perform Pre-Shipment AQL Mold Audit as well.
 

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2 - Prevention before shipment - « Mold Pre-Shipment AQL Inspection »

"Product inspection with random sampling is the most effective visual inspection check to secure the condition of your products before shipment.

 

Service	Description	Detail	Price
Mold  Pre-shipment Inspection	Random sampling, lot control and verification of quality, quantity compliance as well as the absence of mold	1 day secures any order of 10,000 pieces (or pairs)	On request

 The CTC Audit report is issued within 48 hours after the visit of the CTC auditor.

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3 - "Mold tests" or laboratory detection

 

a - Fungal ageing test to check moisture development (CTC method)

• Objective : To analyze the product's ability to mold under defined favorable conditions.
• Methodology : observation of the evolution of a healthy product in time and under controlled environmental conditions 30°C and 80% humidity
• Deadline : 25 days for a full test or 7 days with a result of 95% reliability.
• (Only an incubation of 25 days guarantee a complete mold growth if present and alive.)
• Test Limit : the findings apply to experimental conditions and can not be extrapolated in the absence of development.
• Test price : on request

This test shows whether the germ (mold) is still present and ready to develop in favorable conditions

The limit : if the test is negative we can not certify that there are any more germ, it just means that in the conditions of the test, it has not developped

 

b - Fungal identification to genus (CTC method) :

• Objective : confirmation that your issue is due to molds with precision on gender but not further more.
• Methodology : sampling, cultivation and microscopic identification of the genre.
• Deadline : 21 days
• Test limit : identification of gender but not of this case therefore impossible to state that two molds identified are the same. Eg Aspergillus Niger and Aspergillus fumigatus are two identical genres but two different molds.
• Test price: on request

 

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Option 2 : 4 tests, can be perform individually or by steps

 

a - Fungal ageing test to check moisture development (CTC method)

• Objective : To analyze the product's ability to mold under defined favorable conditions.
• Methodology : observation of the evolution of a healthy product in time and under controlled environmental conditions 30°C and 80% humidity
• Deadline : 25 days for a full test or 7 days with a result of 95% reliability. (Only an incubation of 25 days guarantee a complete mold growth if present and alive.)
• Test Limit : the findings apply to experimental conditions and can not be extrapolated in the absence of development.
• Test price: On request

This test shows whether the germ (mold) is still present and ready to develop in favorable conditions

The limit : if the test is negative we can not certify that there are any more germ, it just means that in the conditions of the test, it has not developped

 

b - Fungal identification to genus (CTC method) :

• Objective : confirmation that your issue is due to molds with precision on gender but not further more.
• Methodology : sampling, cultivation and microscopic identification of the genre.
• Deadline : 21 days
• Test limit : identification of gender but not of this case therefore impossible to state that two molds identified are the same. Eg Aspergillus Niger and Aspergillus fumigatus are two identical genres but two different molds.
• Test price: on request

 

c –  test with fungal ageing and preservatives content (only for leather material).

Check biocides (TCMTB, OIT, CMK, OOP) presence according to EN 13365 standard to evaluate potential problems of innocuousness of the articles

 

d – Antibacterial and antifungal activity tests :

• Objective: The purpose of these tests is to quantitatively evaluate the ability of a material or a product to prevent or limit the growth of micro-organisms (bacteria or molds) to reduce their number or kill micro-organisms (bacteria or molds). The result is expressed as a percentage of antibacterial or antifungal activity.
• Elements of the garment concerned : all parts in skin contact.
• Deadline : 15 days
• Test Limit : the findings apply to experimental conditions and can not be extrapolated in the absence of development.

 

We are not technically able to provide answers on :

• Origin and date of the contamination: production, storage or transportation
• Effectiveness of short or long-term cleaning mold
• Evaluation of the toxicity of mold or bacteria.

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4 - "Mold" CTC prevention services : Conclusion

 

CTC offers a range of services to limit your risks related to the appearance of mold:

* prevention at source on the production site with the "Mold Audit"

* a visual check of your products before shipping your orders with the

"Mold Pre-Shipment AQL Inspections"

* various laboratory analyzes including the "evaluation of the presence of mold" on your products

These tools can be combined. We advise you in particular for the control of your stocks and to determine if there is presence of mold on your products:

• Targeted samples, for example on storage areas or when performing “Mold Pre-Shipment AQL Inspection” or “Mold audit. "

&

• Carrying out tests to assess the presence of mold in the laboratory on a panel of simple or reinforced samples

Depending on your products, your needs and your risk management policy, CTC and its expert teams will support you in order to secure your products & prevent the appearance of mold at all stages of the life cycle of your products.

Welcome to contact CTC for more details:

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