Leucodepleted plasma originating from leucodepleted whole blood maintains a satisfactory level of coagulation factors, even after the storage of whole blood for 18 h at room temperature before filtration.

Use of standardized methods for sterility monitoring is sufficient to assess collection and production processes in terms of hygiene and yields reliable data on bacterial contamination rates of blood components. The methods described are suitable for using to analyse the efficiency of newly introduced methods to reduce bacterial contamination rates of blood components (e.g. diversion, bacteria screening and pathogen inactivation).