WO2004033308A2

WO2004033308A2 - Container for bacteriological analyses

Info

Publication number: WO2004033308A2
Application number: PCT/IT2003/000602
Authority: WO
Inventors: Antonio Ricci; Gabriele Morciatti; Silvana Verdiani
Original assignee: Diesse Diagnostica Senese S.P.A.
Priority date: 2002-10-09
Filing date: 2003-10-07
Publication date: 2004-04-22
Also published as: WO2004033308A3; AU2003279528A8; ITFI20020191A1; AU2003279528A1

Abstract

The flexible container (1) for bacteriological analysis of specimens of food products or other substances comprises an access aperture (5) closed with a removable stopper (11), with which is associated a hollow needle (15) for collecting the liquid specimens for analysis.

Description

CONTAINER FOR BACTERIOLOGICAL ANALYSES DESCRIPTION Technical field

The present invention relates to a flexible container for bacteriological analyses of specimens of food products or other substances. Prior art

At the present time, bacteriological analysis is carried out on food products, for example in order to determine their bacterial content and/or the presence of pathogenic microbes, by using plastic film bags into which a predetermined dose of a culture medium is placed together with a certain quantity of the specimen to be analyzed. The bag is placed in a machine which homogenizes the specimen immersed in the culture medium. A quantity of culture medium, in which the microorganisms contained in the specimen have developed and diffused, is then sucked out of the bag with a pipette. A stage of controlled-temperature incubation may be provided before the specimen is collected and before the execution of the subsequent laboratory analysis.

While carrying out this analysis, therefore, the laboratory personnel come into contact with biological products and materials and have to carry out various operations on them which may be not only slow and complicated, but also potentially hazardous because of the risk of contamination not only of personnel, but also of the working environment. Objects and brief description of the invention The object of the present invention is to provide a flexible container, in the form of a plastic film bag for example, which overcomes the drawbacks mentioned above and enables the aforesaid analysis to be carried out more easily and in safer conditions.

Essentially, according to the invention, the flexible container is provided with an access aperture closed by a removable stopper with which is associated a hollow needle for the collection of the liquid specimens to be analyzed. Thus the removal of the stopper provides easier access to the interior of the container and therefore makes it easier to introduce the culture liquid (if this is not already present in the container) and the specimen. The removable stopper is then fitted on the access aperture again for the operations of homogenization and incubation of the material in the container. By means of an evacuated test tube of a known type, a sufficient quantity of the specimen can then be collected through the hollow collecting needle with which the removable stopper is fitted. Thus it is unnecessary to open the container into which the specimen for analysis has been introduced, or to use collecting pipettes.

In practice, in an advantageous embodiment, the removable stopper can have a housing into which the hollow needle opens. The housing has a base wall through which passes the hollow needle, whose point faces outward to perforate the stopper of the evacuated test tube used for collecting the specimen from the container.

Advantageously, the aperture of the flexible container, which can consist, in a known way, of a bag of welded plastic film, can be surrounded by a collar which is welded or fixed in another way to the container, in other words, in particular, to the plastic film which forms the bag. The removable stopper is engaged reversibly - for example by means of threading, a bayonet fitting, or other system - with this collar.

The hollow needle can have a length such that it remains within its housing with its pointed end facing outward. The housing does not require any closure, but in an advantageous embodiment a removable cover can be provided to shut off from the exterior the housing into which the hollow needle opens. The housing containing the hollow needle also acts as a guide for the evacuated test tube used for extracting the specimen from the container. For this purpose, it is advantageous to have said housing delimited and defined by a cylindrical wall whose dimensions are such as to permit the insertion and guiding of the test tube.

To prevent the penetration of detritus into the test tube for collecting the specimen to be analyzed, and/or the clogging of the hollow needle by such detritus, in a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention the end of the hollow needle facing the interior of the container can be associated with a filter member, for example in the form of a mesh, a grid or the like, made for example from plastic material, and advantageously from the same material as that which forms the housing within which said hollow needle extends.

When the flexible container consists of a welded plastic film, the aperture can be formed in a central area of the tubular portion of film.

Alternatively, the aperture can be made at one end of the piece of tubular film forming the bag, the other end being closed by welding in a conventional way.

Further advantageous characteristics of the container according to the invention are indicated in the attached claims. Brief description of the drawings The invention will be more clearly understood from the description and the attached drawing, which shows a practical example, without restrictive intent, of the invention. In the drawing,

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the bag according to the invention; Fig. 2 shows a section through ll-ll of Fig. 1 ;

Figs. 3A, 3B and 3C show in a highly schematic way a sequence for producing the container; and

Fig. 4 shows a modified embodiment. Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention With reference initially to Figs. 1 and 2, the container according to the invention, indicated as a whole by 1 , has a body 3 consisting of a thermoplastic film bag formed by a portion of tubular plastic film welded at its ends, at 3A and 3B. An aperture 5 (Fig. 2), surrounded by a collar 7 which is welded along the edge of the aperture 5, is formed in the wall of the plastic film which forms the body 3 of the container. A removable stopper 11 is fastened reversibly to the collar 7 by means of a thread 9. The stopper 11 has a housing 13 which passes through the end wall 11A of said stopper. The housing 13 consists of a cylindrical wall 13A which passes through the stopper 11 and which has an open outer end, while the inner end is closed by a base wall 13B.

The base wall 13B of the housing 13 is penetrated by a hollow needle 15, which has an oblique pointed end 15A facing the open outer end of the housing 13. The opposite end 15B of the hollow needle opens into a compartment 17 closed by a filter wall 19 facing the interior of the container 1. The needle 15 can be covered with a protective sheath of rubber or other perforable material, indicated by 16 in Fig. 2.

A predetermined quantity of a culture medium is placed, possibly at the time of production, in the flexible container 1. When the container is to be used, the operator grips the collar 7 and removes the stopper 11 , making the interior of the container 1 accessible through the aperture 5. If the culture medium has not been placed in the container 1 at the time of production, the operator inserts the desired quantity of culture medium through the aperture 5, together with the required quantity of the specimen for analysis. The container can then be reclosed by screwing the stopper 11 onto the collar 7.

When thus closed, the container can be subjected to all the conventional operations carried out in bacteriological analysis or those for which this type of container is designed. In particular, it can be placed in existing machines for the comminution and incubation of the specimen, or for any other operation which may be necessary.

For collecting the liquid specimen of culture medium after the microorganisms present in the previously inserted solid specimen have been diffused in it, it is simply necessary to insert an evacuated test tube of a known type, shown in broken lines and indicated by P in Fig. 2, into the housing 13. Each of these test tubes is fitted at its end with a diaphragm of perforable material and has a degree of vacuum within it such that, when the hollow needle 15 is made to penetrate the perforable end diaphragm of the test tube P and the end 15B of the hollow needle is kept immersed in the liquid contained in the container 1 , a sufficient quantity of this liquid - which is subsequently to be analyzed - is sucked into the test tube P as a result of the pressure difference between the external and internal environments of said test tube P.

It will be clear from the above that all the operations of inserting the products and materials into the container 1 and those of collecting the specimen for analysis are greatly simplified and made safer and faster by the use of the container according to the present invention.

The collar 7 can be fitted to the wall of the body 3 after the formation of the aperture 5, by any suitable method, for example by gluing, hot welding, ultrasonic welding, solvent welding or other methods. It is also possible to fix the collar 7 by a mechanical system which uses a backing flange inside the container 1.

Figs. 3A, 3B and 3C show in a highly schematic way a possible sequence of operations for producing the container according to the invention. Fig. 3A shows a plastic film bag comprising the tubular body 3 welded in a known way at its end 3A, while the opposite end remains open. A pair of suction cups 21 is used to raise the upper flap of the body 3 for the insertion of a metal plate 23 into the bag for the protection of the lower flap. When the plate 23 has been inserted into the body 3 of the container, the aperture 5 is formed by punching and the assembly consisting of the collar 7 and the stopper 11 screwed onto it, with its housing 13, is fitted around the aperture. Finally, the plate 23 is extracted from the body 3 of the container 1 and the second end 3B of the body 3 of the container 1 is welded. The stopper 11 could be fitted in a second stage, for example after the culture medium has been placed in the container.

The aperture of the container 1 and the removable stopper with its housing 13 containing the hollow needle 15 can also be placed in a different position on said container 1. Fig. 4 shows an embodiment in which the end 3B of the tubular body 3 is closed by an essentially rigid element 31. This element has a central aperture surrounded by a collar 37 equivalent to the collar 7 of the preceding embodiment, on which is screwed a removable stopper 41, equivalent to the stopper 11 described previously. The stopper 41 is penetrated by a cylindrical housing 43 within which is placed a hollow needle having a shape similar to that shown in Fig. 2.

Clearly, the drawing shows only an example provided solely as a practical demonstration of the invention, this invention being variable in its forms and arrangements without departure from the scope of the guiding principle of the invention. Any reference numbers present in the attached claims have the sole purpose of facilitating the reading of the claims with reference to the preceding description and to the attached drawings, and do not in any way limit the scope of protection.

Claims

1. Flexible container (1) for bacteriological analysis of specimens of food products or other substances, characterized in that it comprises an access aperture (5) closed with a removable stopper (11), with which is associated a hollow needle (15) for collecting liquid specimens for analysis.

2. Container according to claim 1 , characterized in that said removable stopper has a housing (13) into which the hollow needle opens, this housing having a base wall (13B) through which said hollow needle (15) extends.

3. Container according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said removable stopper has means (9) for reversible engagement with a collar

(7) surrounding said aperture (5).

4. Container according to claim 3, characterized in that said reversible engagement means comprise a screw thread (9).

5. Container according to claim 2 at least, characterized in that said housing (13) is closed toward the exterior of the container by a removable cover.

6. Container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the end (15B) of said hollow needle (15) facing the interior of the container is associated with a filter means (17).

7. Container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a body (3) made from tubular plastic film, with a first and a second end (3A, 3B), at least one of which is closed by welding two flaps of the tubular plastic film.

8. Container according to claim 7, characterized in that both ends of the tubular plastic film are closed by welding and that said access aperture is formed in the tubular plastic film.

9. Container according to claim 7, characterized in that the other (3B) of said ends is closed by an essentially rigid element (31) in which said access aperture is formed.

10. Container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it contains a culture medium for the development of microorganisms.

11. Container according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said needle (15) is fitted with a protective sheath (16).