The E&O Group’s manufacturing and office facility is located in the heart of Central Scotland, two miles south off the M80 in a perfect rural location. 20,000 square ft of dedicated production area is divided between bottled and plated media. A further 10,000 square foot of warehouse is used for all the raw material storage and dispatch/logistics. Extensive product development and quality control laboratories are all sited adjacent to the main factory with additional training facilities and office accommodation in a modernised conversion of the original old farmhouse.

A fully converted modernised farmhouse with breathtaking rural views offers the operation/administration team an ideal environment to service both customers and the factory. The training facilities are used for both in-house personnel development and for outside client courses.

Extensive warehouse space facilitates all goods inwards quarantine, plus routine stock rotation and bulk storage for all raw material receipt. Bar coded stock locations facilitate easy access and accountability. Temperature controlled environments for, -18°C, +4°C, +10°C and bulk ambient storage at +18-20°C are all located within one clear span building.

Following extensive fitness for use validation, raw materials are accurately weighed and measured using calibrated scales prior to batch manufacture. E&O offer customers a wide range of different brands to meet both quality, price and special project requirements. High volume products are secured by bulk batch purchase ensuring consistent performance of all finished products.

Fresh, frozen and lyophilised antibiotic supplements are blended with chemical additives and buffers before routine batch manufacture. E&O’s chemistry department oversee the calibration and operation of all the specialised procedures involved in freeze-drying and filtration. The finished products are used for both in-house media production and customer standing order requirements.

All supplement manufacture is geared towards "made to measure” media production, utilising batch volumes from 500ml to 350litre. Single vial application increases productivity and reduces the risk of contamination from unnecessary multiple aseptic procedures.

Freshly harvested Horse and Sheep blood is transferred to the laboratory for pooling and dispensing. The pooling process guarantees our batches of whole blood have a consistent Pack Cell Volume. The batches are then dispensed within a ISO Grade 5 (GMP Grade B) laminar flow cabinet into sterile containers to suit customer requirements.

25 years experience of developing systems and monitoring animal welfare has resulted in E&O’s success in delivering the freshest quality blood products worldwide. A unique combination of quality animals, superb accommodation, experienced stockmanship and the very best nutrition offers customers total confidence in this essential raw material supply.

Pharmaceutical grade stainless steel "Cuno” housings and filters are used for all sterile filtration. Batch sizes can be run from 10 - 1,000 litres depending on customer requirements and product type. Horse Serum can be batch filtered and reserved pending customer testing. Individual animal selection and retention for specilised product requirements can be arranged by request.

Fully automated dispensing of both sterile and non-aseptic products is carried out in various specialised areas depending on the product category. ISO Grade 5 (GMP Grade B) cabinets are used for all aseptic filling of sterile tubes, bottles and bags. Large volume batches are fully automated using computerised peristaltic pumps and torqued-capping devices while small-specialised batches can be manufactured manually to meet customer’s special requirements.

An extensive range of egg media is manufactured in house using purpose designed equipment to deliver consistent batch quality. Colour coded dyes are added to assist product identification.

Various bottle types and caps are available with different volumes and slopes to meet customers individual requirements.

Small bottles are individually ink-jetted, while larger volume containers are labelled. Each product can be identified by a product code number, batch production lot number, product description and by expiry date. Bulk packs of 50 or 100 bottles are then shrink wrapped and labelled before being entered into stock.

Comprehensive sterilisation processes include filtration, steam autoclaving and hot air ovening. Some aseptically produced products require pasteurisation or inspissation. All manufacturing processes are validated and risk assessed to meet GMP, accreditation and health and safety legislation.

An extensive variety of media preparators are used for all pre-poured plate manufacture. Fully automated industrial electronically calibrated steam jacketed heating/cooling vessels are used for all media batch sizes from 20 to 400 litres.

Smaller batches are sterilised in traditional stand alone laboratory preparators. Colour coded media grouped tubing with appropriate rigging nozzles are all carefully managed to ensure product stability and uniformity.

Two purpose built ISO Grade 6 (GMP Grade C) clean rooms are used for all the aseptic dispensing of media into petri dishes. Both areas are temperature, humidity and air pressure controlled. The large room is equipped with eleven automatic pouring lines with the capability of filling any dish sizes. The small clean room is used for small batch production and hand poured specialised media.

In-line fully automated packaging ensures the sterility of product and enhances the consistency in shelf life by using breathable cellophane. This also helps to reduce condensation during temprature changes when the final product is shipped. Once the product has been wrapped it the leaves the clean room area and is quarantined within a cold storage area until batch quality control is released.

E&O Laboratories contract all routine quality control to the group’s analytical facility: E&O Diagnostics Ltd. This service is totally separate and offers independent batch analysis of all product sterility and fertility characteristics. All quality control protocols and product validation plans are designed and managed by the group’s technical team. Following the approval of methods, samples are submitted for external analysis and then accumulated trend data is continually monitored for product continuity and improvement projects.

E&O's quality assurance department ensure all departments comply with the standard BSI EN ISO 9001:2008, with all manufacturing practices adhering to GMP guidelines.

Product batch manufacture is rigorously inspected and all free stock quarantined until all quality testing has been completed before being released for dispatch.

Product development assays and recipe formulations are all validated and documented as part of our group’s quality management system. New products and improved formulations are continually assessed and developed to meet customers expectations as standards rise to meet the new challenges and methodologies within our ever changing global market.

Stock Quarantine / Pick / Packing / Despatching

E & O’s donor animal operation encompasses three farm units. A combination of high quality summer grazing and specialised winter housing allows donor stock a stress free purposeful life. All three units are Home Office Licensed and all bleeding protocols are accredited to ISO 9000:2000. New animals are privately sourced and quarantined before being veterinary screened prior to entering donor herds.

If you have a well-mannered but unsound horse, that is over 15.2hh and between the ages of 5 - 15 years, we may be able to offer you a solution to extend your horse’s useful life as an essential blood donor for medical advances. Please do not hesitate to contact customer service for further details.

 

Three seperate flocks of mature native ewes are grazed during the summer on rolling pasture and housed from January until March to escape the severe winter months. All the donor sheep are individually ear tagged for product traceability and bled on a three week cycle. Professional contract shepherds carry out all dipping, dagging and shearing ensuring that the animals are in the best of health and comfort. Paddock grazing and individual pens can accomodate special sheep retention for single donor project separation.

Mature ewes over 100kg are individually cradled using a platform system to reduce donor stress and ensure minimum movement during the blood harvest.

E & O's new vacuum assisted 'pod' collection system uses sterile irradiated bags with the smallest of needles allowing contented donor animals to munch away throughout the whole blood harvest process.This new innovative gentle action 'vacuum pod rocker' was designed in-house by E & O's engineering department ensuring minimal red cell degradation during the defibrination process.

Quotations for all related blood harvesting equipment are available on request. Modifications can be developed to suit individual client requirements.