Large scale

Industrial fermentation and large-scale manipulation of microorganisms must be done in containment conditions that reduce risk to persons and the environment to a minimum. Large-scale work is not, however, necessarily more hazardous than laboratory-scale work. In fact, very often, it is less hazardous because most operations are carried out in closed, automated systems, which reduces the chances of exposure to persons. Nevertheless, the volume involved is in itself a hazard because of the danger of large numbers of pathogens escaping into the laboratory and/or the environment.