[Histonet] guidelines for using a microwave designated for food, but used to heat up histogel

[Amos Brooks]

>
> Hi,
     There is NO reason to have a microwave in a histology lab. They don't
really save any time and cause more problems than they are worth.
     You won't have to worry about any certifying agencies rulings about
microwaves if they aren't there!
     Just put the Histogel in a rack in a normal convection oven. If your
slide drying oven doesn't get that high, your embedding center probably
does. Leave it there for an hour and you'll be fine. And good lord don't
let them put it in the break room!

Amos


Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2019 05:12:50 -0700
> From: Eileen Akemi Allison <akemiat3377 at gmail.com>
> To: Histonet <Histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
> Subject: [Histonet] guidelines for using a microwave designated for
>         food, but used to heat up histogel
> Message-ID: <C177C61B-BE60-4D15-888B-88F41FDFE15C at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=us-ascii
>
> Good morning histopeeps:
>
> We recently brought on an Ophthalmology Pathologist from MD Anderson and
> they use histogel for orienting their thin eye specimens and need a
> microwave to heat it up.  We do not have a microwave in the lab for their
> use but I had ordered one for them.  I just found out they used the
> microwave in our lab lounge to heat up histonet which was opened and being
> stored in our gross area refrigerator.
>
> Do any of you know the CAP regulation against use of laboratory reagents
> being used in a microwave being used for food consumption?  I ended up
> removing the microwave they used and put it in the histology lab.  Our
> Director wants me to write a formal letter to submit to him.
>
> Thank you in advance for your impute!
>
> Akemi Allison, BS,  HT/HTL (ASCP)
>