Cotton contamination is a serious issue, and efforts must be made to avoid contamination during picking, handling and processing. Once cotton is contaminated, it is difficult to clean. Ginning breaks contaminants into smaller pieces that are automatically spread throughout a much larger volume of cotton. Some contaminants are white in color and are so similar to cotton lint that neither machines nor the human eye can identify them. Field and handling practices should be designed to ensure that cottondoes not come in contact with polypropylene, plastic, grease, oil, sand/dust, human hair, bird feathers and stamp color which are some of the world's most common cotton contaminants. None of these materials are present in the cotton before picking, butthey are added at various stages from picking until the lint reaches a spinning mill.
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