Lint Contamination Prevention – What We Learned in 2013

Failure to be vigilent when asked to eliminate potential cotton contaminants from seedcotton can jepordize our standing as a preferred source of contamination free cotton fibers. Spinning mills around the world trust that when U.S. cotton is sourced, there should be no fear of introducing foreign materials in their end products flagged for contaminants that arrived in the lint. Spinning mills, shippers and others shared details about specific instances where foreign materials were found in several growths of U.S. cotton in 2013. Examples of how mills catalogue contamination events and, in some instances, track foreign material in cotton lint back to a specific gin/farm will be reviewed.