Dispensing ingredients from 18kg bucket/pail without contamination?

dmh0023dmh0023 Member
in General
Two of my raw ingredients recently arrived in sealed 18kg pails. This is my largest order yet, and I'm unsure of how to access the ingredients without contaminating them. 

The lids of the pails do not have bungholes. One of the ingredients is liquid at room temperature, so a bunghole/pump situation could work for that? I would just need to switch out the lid.

For the other, I'm assuming I can disinfect whatever room I'm in, make sure there's no airflow/dust contaminants by allowing the air to settle for a few hours, and quickly open the bucket and transfer to smaller containers?

Any advice would be much appreciated. :) How would you do it?
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Comments

  • Bill_TogeBill_Toge Member, Professional Chemist
    could you provide a photo of these pails?
    UK based formulation chemist. Strongest subjects: hair styling, hair bleaches, hair dyes (oxidative and non-oxidative) I know some stuff about: EU regulations, emulsions (O/W and W/O), toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoos, other toiletries
  • dmh0023dmh0023 Member
    For sure.

     
  • mikethairmikethair Member
    In my opinion, it would be a challenge if attempting this if your production area is not GMP certified.  Ours is, and we work with this size container on a daily basis.
    Dr. Mike Thair
    Cofounder & Chief Formulator
    Indochine Natural
  • dmh0023dmh0023 Member
    mikethair said:
    In my opinion, it would be a challenge if attempting this if your production area is not GMP certified.  Ours is, and we work with this size container on a daily basis.
    Thank you. How exactly do you do it? What equipment do you use?
  • dmh0023dmh0023 Member
    Bump :) @mikethair would you mind letting me know what you use, please?
  • EVchemEVchem Member
    At this size if you're planning to do retail sale you'll want to get a dedicated space for yourself to at least open/weigh out containers.  a pump would work if you switch the lid out for liquids. For powders a pour spout would probably be fine. 

    When you say contamination are you worried about microbes or just particulates like dust? Germs are everywhere, that's why you have a robust preservative but obviously do what you can to minimize. to reliably keep out particulates it will be much easier if you have a set room to work in with positive pressure and clean surfaces
  • dmh0023dmh0023 Member
    Thank you, EVchem. Very much appreciated. Thank you for the details and discussion of options, rather than stating you know how to do this and then never responding. 
  • dmh0023dmh0023 Member
    EVchem said:

    When you say contamination are you worried about microbes or just particulates like dust? Germs are everywhere, that's why you have a robust preservative but obviously do what you can to minimize. to reliably keep out particulates it will be much easier if you have a set room to work in with positive pressure and clean surfaces
    Mostly particulates, but I'd also like to reduce the chances of microbes getting into the ingredient as well, though I know they're everywhere and it's almost impossible to prevent that. 
  • mikethairmikethair Member
    dmh0023 said:
    mikethair said:
    In my opinion, it would be a challenge if attempting this if your production area is not GMP certified.  Ours is, and we work with this size container on a daily basis.
    Thank you. How exactly do you do it? What equipment do you use?

    It depends on the ingredient. If liquid, it can be simply poured into a stainless steel pot for weighing. If more solid, use a suitable scoop. You should read up on GMP processes and conditions to understand the conditions under which we operate. After dispensing from these containers we have our In-Process Quality Control room where samples are taken and tested, and of course, before the final product release our QC Manager will do a series of lab tests. These include microbiol tests in our on-site microbiology lab.
    Dr. Mike Thair
    Cofounder & Chief Formulator
    Indochine Natural
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