Just my .02 on this topic.  For many years my mother worked for a  company that made petrie dishes, needles, lab supplies and worked the in area that sterilized them before they were shipped out.  They are all made in the same process (sterile and non sterile) and are made under aseptic conditions.  All workers are in lab coats, booties, hair nets, masks, etc to keep everything as clean as possible during manufacture.  So they are clean but cannot be guaranteed sterile (no bacteria at all anywhere on the item).  So they can be used but for lab work (growing a culture) they have to be sterile so you know where the bacteria growth came from.  They are packaged under these conditions - for items that need to be sterilized they are boxed up (as if about to ship) and put through the sterilization process.  There is a few different process (can't remember all the names of gases and such) where large amounts are sterilized at once, where my mother worked was a big storage type room, the room is sealed and the sterilization process is started.

I hope this helps - my mom would say they are clean and produced aseptically but you can't guarantee they are sterile until they go through the process, about the same as if you washed something after use.

Felicia Henry, BCCE, IBCLC
Oxnard, CA

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