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kitleen

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Posted 09 October 2010 - 03:21 AM

Hi Guys,

Im actually out of ideas and need your help.

in short, i work for a company that produces soya milk in pp bottle. one day, we received a complaint from our exporting customer that there are a 4 bottles found spoilt. upon checking, there is no weak seal at the sealing area of the bottle opening. we conducted separate micro testing for two bottles and its result is puzzling me.

first result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Acinetobacter lwoffi.

second result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Staphylococcus Warneri

i cannot understand how did the contamination occur. the bottles undergo retort process. however, i am unable to find out more details on this two species of bacteria as the sources on the internet is not much. the production date on the 4 spoilt bottles is not the same.

anyone here has any idea what this two strains come about?



Marco

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Posted 12 October 2010 - 07:42 PM

Hi Guys,

Im actually out of ideas and need your help.

in short, i work for a company that produces soya milk in pp bottle. one day, we received a complaint from our exporting customer that there are a 4 bottles found spoilt. upon checking, there is no weak seal at the sealing area of the bottle opening. we conducted separate micro testing for two bottles and its result is puzzling me.

first result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Acinetobacter lwoffi.

second result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Staphylococcus Warneri

i cannot understand how did the contamination occur. the bottles undergo retort process. however, i am unable to find out more details on this two species of bacteria as the sources on the internet is not much. the production date on the 4 spoilt bottles is not the same.

anyone here has any idea what this two strains come about?


I have some questions that could help understand your problem.

Could you tell me what is the pH and sugar content of your product?

Do you have a measure pH measure of the spoiled product?

How is the filling done and what are the pre and post retort steps?

Do you have any test results for yeasts?

Do you have a description of what was wrong with the product (i.e. blown pack, acid taste, slime, etc.)?

Thank you.

Marco


kitleen

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Posted 14 October 2010 - 12:34 AM

I have some questions that could help understand your problem.

Could you tell me what is the pH and sugar content of your product?
pH of content product is 6.9.

Do you have a measure pH measure of the spoiled product?
pH of spoilt product is 5.6

How is the filling done and what are the pre and post retort steps?
pre retort step : sealing
post retort step: sleeving

Do you have any test results for yeasts?
we did not conduct any test for yeasts

Do you have a description of what was wrong with the product (i.e. blown pack, acid taste, slime, etc.)?
the sample was found spoilt / curd.

Thank you.

Marco


Dear Marco,

thanks for your reply,

here are the answers to your question in red above


Tony-C

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Posted 14 October 2010 - 04:08 AM

Hi Guys,

Im actually out of ideas and need your help.

in short, i work for a company that produces soya milk in pp bottle. one day, we received a complaint from our exporting customer that there are a 4 bottles found spoilt. upon checking, there is no weak seal at the sealing area of the bottle opening. we conducted separate micro testing for two bottles and its result is puzzling me.

first result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Acinetobacter lwoffi.

second result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Staphylococcus Warneri

i cannot understand how did the contamination occur. the bottles undergo retort process. however, i am unable to find out more details on this two species of bacteria as the sources on the internet is not much. the production date on the 4 spoilt bottles is not the same.

anyone here has any idea what this two strains come about?


Some background info from Wikipedia & a couple of other sites:

Pseudomonadales
The Pseudomonadales are an order of Proteobacteria. A few members are opportunistic pathogens, such as species of Pseudomonas, Moraxella, and Acinetobacter, which may cause pneumonia.
Acinetobacter
The genus Acinetobacter is a group of Gram-negative, non-motile and non-fermentative bacteria belonging to the family Moraxellaceae. They are important soil organisms where they contribute to the mineralisation of, for example, aromatic compounds. Acinetobacter are able to survive on various surfaces (both moist and dry) in the hospital environment, thereby being an important source of infection in debilitated patients.
Acinetobacter lwoffii (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus biotype lwoffii)
An aerobic gram-negative bacillus widely distributed in nature (soil, sewage, and water) and in the hospital environment. It is able to survive on both moist and dry surfaces and may be part of the normal flora of humans. Causes hospital-acquired respiratory, urinary tract, wound infections, abscesses, and meningitis in debilitated humans.

Staphylococcus warneri
Staphylococcus warneri is a member of the bacterial genus Staphylococcus, consisting of Gram-positive bacteria with spherical cells appearing in clusters. It is coagulase-negative and is a common commensal organism found as part of the skin flora on humans and animals. Like other coagulase-negative staphylococci, S. warneri rarely causes disease, but may occasionally cause infection in patients whose immune system is compromised.
It is possible that some past reports of serious infection with S. warneri may in fact represent misidentification of S. lugdunensis.
Staphylococcus warneri Septicemia in Preterm Neonates


As Acinetobacter is gram negative this would suggest post heat treatment contamination. Cooling water is a favourite for this but air is possible as well. I have seen similar problems due to an occasional seal that appears to be good but has a small defect.

Are you able to closely inspect the sealing area of the products in question?
Do you regularly do vacuum tests on the product seals?

Regards,

Tony



Esther

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Posted 17 October 2010 - 11:12 PM

Hi Guys,

Im actually out of ideas and need your help.

in short, i work for a company that produces soya milk in pp bottle. one day, we received a complaint from our exporting customer that there are a 4 bottles found spoilt. upon checking, there is no weak seal at the sealing area of the bottle opening. we conducted separate micro testing for two bottles and its result is puzzling me.

first result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Acinetobacter lwoffi.

second result: the external lab identify the micro growth as Staphylococcus Warneri

i cannot understand how did the contamination occur. the bottles undergo retort process. however, i am unable to find out more details on this two species of bacteria as the sources on the internet is not much. the production date on the 4 spoilt bottles is not the same.

anyone here has any idea what this two strains come about?




Dear Kitleen

Very interesting clues from the other member.

I think that it is important to consider how many times this has happened? Has you ever had this kind of spoil in your internal essays? Have you had the same comply from other customers ?

You must consider that a bottle can be closed but not " hermetically" close duo to, for example a hit or punch.

We must suppose that your heat treatment has been properly validated,has not it?

Regards
Esther


Charles.C

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Posted 18 October 2010 - 12:38 AM

Dear kitleen,

I adjusted the final word in yr topic title, hope that's OK. :smile:

@Esther - Right to the point as usual! :thumbup:

Rgds / Charles.C


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


kitleen

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Posted 18 October 2010 - 10:16 AM

Some background info from Wikipedia & a couple of other sites:
Are you able to closely inspect the sealing area of the products in question?
No, We are actually wondering if there is micro leak that the passage might be clotted by spoilt residue<BR style="mso-special-character: line-break">
Do you regularly do vacuum tests on the product seals?
No we do not conduct vaccum tests for this product.

Regards,

Tony




Dear Kitleen

Very interesting clues from the other member.

I think that it is important to consider how many times this has happened? Has you ever had this kind of spoil in your internal essays? Have you had the same comply from other customers ?

You must consider that a bottle can be closed but not " hermetically" close duo to, for example a hit or punch.
How do we test whether a bottle is hermetically closed or not? any methods you can suggest for us to carry out the test?
hopefully something which is easy to carry out.

We must suppose that your heat treatment has been properly validated,has not it?
yes our heat treatment is validated.

Regards
Esther



Dear kitleen,

I adjusted the final word in yr topic title, hope that's OK. :smile:

Thanks charles... i was wondering how to change it after i posted the topic.. looks like i cant edit it after its posted >.< thanks for the help.

@Esther - Right to the point as usual! :thumbup:

Rgds / Charles.C



dear all,

thanks for the replies and help.

above in red is my reply.

Regards.
Kit




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