Tokyo Tour: The Anatomy of a Clean Room

In order for Boscia's products to be made without preservatives, they are manufactured in a Clean Room--and environment free of dust, bacteria and impurities that can contaminate a product and ruin its shelf life (which is the function of preservatives in the first place).The average room contains over 35 million particles that can cause contamination. Yesterday, we visited Boscia and Fancl's manufacturing plant, and lemme tell you, it's all very "Outbreak." The clean room is the heart of the building, with many layers of clearance around it. We peered at the white-suit clad workers through a few layers of glass, separated by about 20 feet of space. The clean room consisted of 4 different areas - for weighing, preparation, filling and packing, and no where in that process are the products exposed to air, which can introduce contamination. The products are packaged in small, freshness-dated bottles hermetically sealed, with innovative, touch-free caps that are specially designed to keep out bacteria. And getting into the clean room is no easy feat: Workers must pass through 3 different cleansing rooms before they enter the clean room. First, they remove their street clothes, stripping down to their underwear. Next, they step into an air shower where they are disinfected. In the third room, they put on white uniforms that have been specially cleaned to be free of germs. They are then (finally!) ready for work. Before and after lunch, they go through the same process, again (that's a whole lot of dressing and undressing - I guess snack and smoke breaks are out!). Here are some pic's from the clean room.