Containers

Buying around us

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For a Category B shipment, buy a certified system Not three suppliers and an assembly For specimen formats, ask the laboratory first For sterile containers, buy pre-sterilised What to ask us for instead And bulk for non-clinical sampling Ask us for the material and the neck Do not ask us whether it suits a specimen Why a catalog page should say this And it keeps the part of the order we can serve References

The useful page is the one that sends you elsewhere for the parts we do not have.

For a Category B shipment, buy a certified system

A packaging supplier who sells the triple packaging as one tested, marked product, with the absorbent sized and the drop and pressure performance already established.

Not three suppliers and an assembly

The test result belongs to the assembly. Sourcing a bottle here, a bag there and a box somewhere else produces something that has never been tested as the thing it is.

For specimen formats, ask the laboratory first

Most laboratories supply the collection container they want to receive, with the preservative already dosed and the cap geometry their instrument expects. That is usually free and always correct.

For sterile containers, buy pre-sterilised

A documented sterilisation with a lot number, from a supplier who sells sterility as the product. We do not record even autoclavability.

What to ask us for instead

Bulk reagents, buffers, washes, stains and media in bottles. 246 bottles here, 103 of them glass, which is the laboratory consumable side of this group.

And bulk for non-clinical sampling

Environmental, research and veterinary work that is not a patient specimen. The field sampling property sets out which material each water analyte permits, which is a question we can answer precisely.

Ask us for the material and the neck

What a container is made of, what it holds, what thread it has and which closures fit it. Those are facts we hold and publish on every product page.

Do not ask us whether it suits a specimen

Because the honest answer is that we do not know, and a confident answer to that question from a packaging catalog would be worth less than nothing.

Why a catalog page should say this

A buyer who finds out at the laboratory, or at the carrier counter, has lost a collection. Finding out on a page costs them a minute.

And it keeps the part of the order we can serve

A laboratory buying media bottles from us and specimen kits elsewhere is a customer. One sold the wrong thing once is not.

References

49 CFR 173.199, Category B infectious substances. "A Category B infectious substance must be packaged in a triple packaging consisting of a primary receptacle, a secondary packaging, and a rigid outer packaging." Absorbent material "must be placed between the primary receptacle and secondary packaging" and "must be of sufficient quantity to absorb the entire contents of the primary receptacles". "The primary receptacle or the secondary packaging must be capable of withstanding without leakage an internal pressure producing a pressure differential of not less than 95 kPa." "The packaging must be capable of successfully passing the drop test in 178.609(d) of this subchapter at a drop height of at least 1.2 meters (3.9 feet)." "At least one surface of the outer packaging must have a minimum dimension of 100 mm by 100 mm (3.9 inches)." By aircraft, each primary receptacle may not exceed 1 L and each outer packaging 4 L for liquids, or 4 kg for solids. law.cornell.edu

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The diagnostics and lab shelf is 600 rows: 270 containers and 330 closures. 5 mL to 946 mL with a median of 118; 71 containers at 30 mL or under, 105 at 60 or under, 154 at 120 or under, 248 at 500 or under. 154 HDPE, 103 glass, 13 PP, and no PET. 246 bottles, 19 jars, 3 jugs, 2 tubes. 97 white, 57 natural, 35 clear, 28 amber. Closures: 163 continuous thread, 44 child resistant, 32 dropper assemblies, 27 spouted, 19 flip top, 14 phenolic, 7 buttress, 6 specialty, 5 dome lids.

Written from 49 CFR 173.199 and 173.134, and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. Nothing here is offered as a compliant primary receptacle for a regulated shipment: the pressure and drop requirements attach to a tested assembly, not to a bottle. Category A infectious substances are a different packaging instruction entirely and are not summarized. Sterility is not claimed for any product, and what a laboratory will accept is the laboratory's to say.