The European dependencies for raw materials supply from foreign countries have been unquestionably shown by COVID‐19 outbreak and have become particular evident from the slow response to the need for high quality personal protective equipment (PPEs). Among all medical devices, surgical face masks have earned themselves a primary role for the containment of the epidemic. In this context, our work aims at improving the barrier effect of surgical mask by depositing on their external surface a mixture of bioactive compounds, mainly polyphenols, extracted from agronomical sources. The main objective is the integration of the biorefining of agri‐food solid wastes with the potential virucidal properties of the polyphenolic extracts for the treatment of PPEs.

In the quality control process, risk analysis is a useful tool for enhancing the uniformity of technical choices and their documented rationale. Accordingly, it allows for more effective and economical laboratory management, is capable of increasing the reliability of analytical results, and enables auditors and authorities to better understand choices that have been made. The aim of this article is to show how hazard analysis and critical control points can be used to manage bacterial endotoxins testing and other analytical processes in a formal, clear, and detailed manner.

A B S T R AC TMicrocystins (MCs) are dangerous toxins produced by cyanobacteria in eutrophic waters, that are increasingly used worldwide for human consumption after potabilization.In this study, we present the results of laboratory and pilot-plant experiments, aimed at deepening the knowledge of the mechanisms governing the equilibrium of dissolved and particulate-bound MCs, and exploring the possible use of ultrafi ltration (UF) for their removal from eutrophic water within the potabilization treatment. Firstly, we analysed the presence of MCs in fi ltered water after three months of pure culture of Microcystis aeruginosa and different cycles of freezing and thawing, showing an increase of dissolved MCs due to cell breakage caused by the refrigeration cycles. Secondly, we performed fi ltration tests in a pilot UF plant, using samples of demineralised water and raw water from a eutrophic lake, both spiked with MCs. The tests demonstrated the possibility to remove MCs by adsorption rather than by mechanical seizing. The tests with demineralised water denoted a tendency to desorption after reaching the adsorption equilibrium, an adsorption isotherm less effective than the one observed in earlier lab-scale studies, and the need for very well controlled chemical washings to clean the membranes. Conversely, the raw lake water tests showed a higher removal effi ciency, allowing to reach a fi nal concentration of less than 1 µg/l, and a tendency to maintain the removal effi ciency for longer cycles. These results allow us to discuss the role of the adsorption-release process on the efficiency of the UF process, and suggests the exploration of non-conventional operating rules aimed at maximizing the removal of MCs by UF.

The aim of this work is to develop and validate methods for quantifying endotoxins on surfaces and in the air of the manufacturing environment of injectable drugs, in order to use them to evaluate the quality of the process and the risk for the products processed therein. The method for recovering endotoxins from surfaces is a direct method that provides sampling surfaces by swabbing and extraction of endotoxins from the swabs with an appropriate diluent, while the method for airborne endotoxins provides an air-active sampling on a glass fiber filter and endotoxins extraction with an appropriate diluent. Bacterial endotoxins are present in the environments devoted to the manufacturing of injectable drugs and could be a real risk for the quality and the safety of such drugs. So the quality control laboratories should have analytical methods to recover bacterial endotoxins from environmental samples. The aim of this publication is to show how we succeeded in developing and validating methods to quantify bacterial endotoxins on surfaces and in the air.