What is the purpose of chain of custody in sample handling?

• A. To ensure sample integrity and traceability
• B. To speed up testing
• C. To assign ownership
• D. To categorize sample type

Answer: (A)

Chain of custody is about preserving the sample’s integrity and creating a clear, verifiable record of every handling step from collection to analysis to disposal. By giving the sample a unique identifier, sealing it, and documenting each transfer with date, time, handler, and reason, you establish an unbroken audit trail that shows who had the sample and when. This ensures the sample hasn’t been altered or substituted and that the results you obtain can be trusted and defended if needed. In regulatory, quality, or legal contexts, that traceability and integrity are essential for the credibility of the analysis.

The other ideas aren’t the primary goal here. Speeding up testing may help throughput, but it doesn’t guarantee that the sample remains untouched or that its provenance is verifiable. Assigning ownership is part of accountability but doesn’t by itself protect the sample’s integrity across all handlers. Categorizing the sample type is about labeling and classification, whereas chain of custody focuses on maintaining an unbroken, documented chain of custody for the actual sample.