Preventing mildew growth on cotton swabs and other products containing cotton

The action of microorganisms is generally dependent on factors such as availability of organic or inorganic nutrients, sunlight, and moisture. In this study, a combination of factors occurring during manufacturing and storage were found to cause mold growth on cotton swabs. These factors included improper or inadequate sanitization, contaminated Methocel, inadequate amounts of preservative (0.1% or less) in the infested Methocel, high moisture levels (30% or more) in cotton swabs, plastic sticks/put ups, and warehousing cotton swabs under hot and humid conditions. Sealed plastic bags used for storage, essentially unventilated units, were found to provide an ideal moisture chamber for mildew development. Implementation of certain control options solved the above the above problems, ensuring mildew-free manufacturing of cotton swabs. Application: While this research was performed on cotton swabs, the recommendations for preventing mildew may also be applied to other products such as incontinent pads, tampons, hydroentangled nonwovens, and other products containing cotton.