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National guidelines for monitoring bacterial contamination of blood components were introduced in Germany in 1997. Between 1998 and 2002, numerous measures were implemented to prevent bacterial contamination. This study investigates their impact on contamination rates. Culture-based testing for bacterial detection on a random sample of blood components is part of routine quality control in German blood establishments. Using standardized questionnaires, data from the production periods 1998, 2001 and 2005/2006 were collected and analysed. The bacterial contamination rate of RBCs was reduced from 0·157% in 1998 to 0·029% in 2005/2006 ( P < 0·001). While the contamination rate of apheresis PCs remained nearly unchanged over the years, it dramatically decreased for pooled PCs by 70% to a contamination rate of 0·158% ( P = 0·001) within the last observation period, similar to that of apheresis PCs. The contamination rate of plasma decreased from 0·100% in 1998 to 0·019% in 2005/2006 ( P = 0·002). Precautionary measures significantly reduced bacterial contamination rates of blood components. Long-term monitoring with standardized methods is appropriate to evaluate the cumulative effect of contamination-preventing measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]