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CATAS, a center of international importance in the field of testing furniture and furnishing materials, ensures the quality of its test results by following the international standard ISO 17025. Most of the testing methods carried out at CATAS are subject to a monitoring program by Accredia, the Italian accreditation body. Accreditation of a test method is granted when the accreditation body certifies that the laboratory meets all the criteria required by the current legislation to ensure the quality of the test result.

Among the new methods accredited last year 2021 is ISO 22196:2011 - Measurement of antibacterial activity on plastics and other non-porous surface, which specifies a method for evaluating the antibacterial properties of polymers with antibacterial additives.
In 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased concern about the possibility that infections of various kinds can be transmitted through contact with infected surfaces, the demand for tests to evaluate the effectiveness of antibacterial treatments exploded. Over the last two years, the laboratory has carried out more than 140 tests on a variety of different materials, from coatings to packaging films, from furniture coating materials to floorings.
The main area of use for these materials is in medical clinics, communities or highly frequented environments, where the risk of transmission of a bacterial infection through the shared use of objects or contact with infected surfaces is greater, but several products are also intended for domestic use.
Consistent with the quality policy of CATAS, which has always aimed to offer its customers services of proved reliability, the laboratory has decided to undertake the accreditation process for this method as well, thus entering the very short list of accredited laboratories for ISO 22196: four throughout the country.

But CATAS initiatives does not stop there: in order to meet the need for coating manufacturers to endorse their coating products with an authoritative brand name, the laboratory has, in fact, recently developed a new certification scheme, in addition to the many already recognized and well known under the name CATAS QUALITY AWARD (CQA). This is the CQA ANTIBACTERIAL COATING CERTIFICATION, which, through a program of specific tests on coated surfaces, certifies coating systems for interiors that meet certain performance requirements, including antibacterial activity.
More info here.

When we can glimpse a way out of the health emergency that has heavily involved us, attention will be still focused on preventing the spread of bacterial infections, which can have serious consequences at the same level of viral infections. Those who work in the research and development of technologies and materials aimed at controlling the proliferation of bacteria on surfaces can therefore take advantage of a standardized testing method and the "accredited" service of CATAS to evaluate their effectiveness.

For info:
Elena Conti
0432 747219
conti@catas.com