In support of settle plates.

During pharmaceutical production the quality of the air in manufacturing areas is monitored by volumetric samplers and settle plates. Settle plates are often assigned a secondary role, their usefulness in predicting airborne contamination of containers not being fully recognised. In this paper criticisms of settle plates are answered and the advantages of settle plates explained. It is concluded that using settle plates is the best method of quantifying the likely airborne microbial contamination of containers filled in pharmaceutical production areas.