Revealite™

Microbiology culture swabs will identify the presence of specific bacteria on surfaces, however, they do not identify surface residues, which if not removed will encourage the growth of hazardous microbes. Additionally, the results of culture swabs are not available to aid daily cleaning operations.

ATP testing detects surface residues and associated microbes whilst providing timely results, however, results can be a little hit or miss depending on when in the cleaning cycle you swab and you will not always swab the area where hazardous residues are present as they are usually not visible to the naked eye. This may on occasions provide misleading information on cleanliness. Additionally, performing ATP swabbing and testing is time consuming for busy staff and is costly if testing a large number of sites each day.

Studies have concluded that ‘an integrated cleaning programme using a combination of detection techniques is recommended, however, visible inspection remains the primary method’. Revealite™ is a cost effective aid to visible inspection and a powerful tool to improve cleanliness and infection control.

See Comparison of Methods for Cleaning Audits.

With the Revealite™ UV detector:

• Invisible surface residues are immediately and obviously highlighted making it possible to quickly scan large areas of potential risk at any time between or during cleaning
• There are no expensive test swabs or instruments to purchase
• Little or no training is required
• The visible detection allows immediate corrective action as well as easily demonstrating to cleaning staff where attention needs to be given during cleaning operations
• Long battery life for extended use
• Lightweight and fits easily into a pocket

What does it do?

With the Revealite™ UV detector, invisible surface residues are immediately and obviously highlighted making it possible to quickly scan large areas of potential risk at any time between cleaning. There are no expensive test swabs or instruments to purchase and little or no training is required. The visible detection allows immediate corrective action as well as easily demonstrating to cleaning staff where attention needs to be given during cleaning operations.

How does it work?

When surfaces are illuminated with invisible UV light any residues present on the surface absorbs the light and re-emits light of a longer wavelength, which is visible. This is known as fluorescence and makes otherwise invisible residues appear visible to the human eye.

In order to see the fluorescence clearly, the process is usually conducted in a darkened room or low light environment.  To further aid visibility, goggles using coloured lenses filter extraneous emitted wavelengths producing greater contrast of the residues against the background.

We recommend the use of uv-ban™ glasses with Revealite™.

What types of residues can be detected?

The technology is used routinely for forensic investigations to screen for the presence of body fluids on items of evidence and is also used for detecting fingerprints.  Virtually all animal and human cells and any material containing protein such as food and dairy products produces fluorescence when illuminated with UV light.