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Mold been detected in finished pasteurized juice

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HabibBF

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 11:54 AM

Hi everyone ,

 

By chance I have found this priceless website that deals with food safety and I wish you would help me guys with my issue.

In fact we have detected the presence of stranger body (mold) in our finished products which are pasteurized cocktail juice. The problem has appeared after 2 weeks of production and not in all the bottles but in some of them. We are really confused because all the production process procedures were correctly applied ( CIP, sterilization of tanks, pasteurizer,etc).

Any suggested ideas to help me with carrying out an effective investigation to determine the root cause of such problem ?

 

Thank you !



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Posted 19 November 2018 - 12:52 PM

Bottles are PET or Glass?



pHruit

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 01:43 PM

Hi HabibBF,

It may be useful to know a bit more about the product(s) and process - how do you process the juices, how is it pasteurised, time/temperature, how you fill, what you're filling into etc.

Even if the process has been followed correctly and everything works as it should, there are various heat resistant moulds (HRM) than can potential survive pasteurisation processes and spoil finished products.

I'd start by looking at all of the process in detail, but doing some identification work on the type(s) of mould may also be useful to rule HRM in or out as a potential issue.



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Posted 19 November 2018 - 02:06 PM

PET ( sorry I forgot to mention that)

Bottles are PET or Glass?



HabibBF

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 02:23 PM

Hi pHruit,

 

We pasteurize all of our products at 95 °C during 23 seconds and the process is designed by TETRAPAK.

Dealing with HRM, you confirm that the pasteurizer can't eliminate all the germs that could exist in the product before pasteurization, is that right ? knowing that the microbial load in the tested samples of  raw materials comply with the applicable standards.

In fact we suspected the presence of HRM in the compounds, but how can we explain that the phenomenon has occurred in certain bottles and not in all of them ?

 

The aseptic process is new to all the company where I work, because we are basically mineral water bottlers. I am really excited to learn more about aseptic filling, mold and yeast development in juices and other interesting topics in this field.

 

 

 

Hi HabibBF,

It may be useful to know a bit more about the product(s) and process - how do you process the juices, how is it pasteurised, time/temperature, how you fill, what you're filling into etc.

Even if the process has been followed correctly and everything works as it should, there are various heat resistant moulds (HRM) than can potential survive pasteurisation processes and spoil finished products.

I'd start by looking at all of the process in detail, but doing some identification work on the type(s) of mould may also be useful to rule HRM in or out as a potential issue.



pHruit

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 02:33 PM

Yes, with HRM the ascospores can survive pasteurisation and germinate following the thermal process.

Control of these is really about the raw material as you noted - buying the right product to the right specification, ensuring that your raw material suppliers have suitable controls etc.

If the level of contamination in the raw material is low, you may not get a particularly even distribution in the production - as these are physically "solid" they wouldn't necessarily have a homogeneous distribution even after mixing, as you'd expect to see with a liquid/soluble contaminant. Nonetheless it would be a little unusual. I'd still undertake some identification work on the mould anyway, as even if it isn't HRM it may be useful knowing what it is so you can potentially link it to other possible sources.

It could also be the case that only some of the bottles provide exactly the "right" environment to permit growth - it's not something I recall seeing for mould, but the similarly challenging Alicyclobacillus can do some unusual things like this, e.g. only grow in some packs where the fill vol/headspace is just right.

 

If this is a new aseptic process you've set up then I think I'd still be focussing my attention there - these can be extremely sensitive and fiddly to get running correctly. For example I have seen sporadic micro problems (similar to yours - some bottles but not all) caused by problems with the assembly of the filler heads, but this was only identified after completely disassembling and inspecting under magnification - normal visual inspection suggested it was fine, but it suffered a tiny crack during assembly and compromised the aseptic status enough to cause problems.



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HabibBF

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 02:45 PM

Humm, this is really interesting !

I would be grateful if you could provide me with your email. I appreciate your knowledge and experience, I would like to discuss with you further details ( I promise I won't be pushy hahah)

 

Yes, with HRM the ascospores can survive pasteurisation and germinate following the thermal process.

Control of these is really about the raw material as you noted - buying the right product to the right specification, ensuring that your raw material suppliers have suitable controls etc.

If the level of contamination in the raw material is low, you may not get a particularly even distribution in the production - as these are physically "solid" they wouldn't necessarily have a homogeneous distribution even after mixing, as you'd expect to see with a liquid/soluble contaminant. Nonetheless it would be a little unusual. I'd still undertake some identification work on the mould anyway, as even if it isn't HRM it may be useful knowing what it is so you can potentially link it to other possible sources.

It could also be the case that only some of the bottles provide exactly the "right" environment to permit growth - it's not something I recall seeing for mould, but the similarly challenging Alicyclobacillus can do some unusual things like this, e.g. only grow in some packs where the fill vol/headspace is just right.

 

If this is a new aseptic process you've set up then I think I'd still be focussing my attention there - these can be extremely sensitive and fiddly to get running correctly. For example I have seen sporadic micro problems (similar to yours - some bottles but not all) caused by problems with the assembly of the filler heads, but this was only identified after completely disassembling and inspecting under magnification - normal visual inspection suggested it was fine, but it suffered a tiny crack during assembly and compromised the aseptic status enough to cause problems.



pHruit

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 02:50 PM

If there are commercially sensitive details then there is a private messaging function here on IFSQN - if you click on my name to go to my profile, you'll see a "send me a message" button.

 

But if possible it is much better to discuss here in this thread - this provides a reference point for others who may have similar problems now or in future, so everyone can benefit from the discussion. Like many users here, I'm happy to share my experience where I can (if nothing else it repays the kindness of other members from whom we have learned a great deal!) and the more people can access and benefit from it the better ;)

It also means you'll potentially get input from other people with more/different experience to me, and that is (almost) always a good thing when you're trying to solve a problem.



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Posted 19 November 2018 - 03:18 PM

Yes I totally agree , it is about sharing and spreading knowledge as possible as someone can.

However when it comes to sharing confidential information or detailed ones that might impact the company, I would prefer to share it in private  :hypocrite:

 

I am afraid I can't send you a private message. I have read in other forums that you can access the PM system when your account is automatically upgraded at 25 posts, the only way to fast track that is to purchase a membership upgrade from the store.

 

Do you have any guides that could help me with my enquiries ? Is there a database about similar incidents of juice recalls or issues to which I can refer in order to implement preventive actions to avoid the occurrence of such situations?

 

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

     

 

If there are commercially sensitive details then there is a private messaging function here on IFSQN - if you click on my name to go to my profile, you'll see a "send me a message" button.

 

But if possible it is much better to discuss here in this thread - this provides a reference point for others who may have similar problems now or in future, so everyone can benefit from the discussion. Like many users here, I'm happy to share my experience where I can (if nothing else it repays the kindness of other members from whom we have learned a great deal!) and the more people can access and benefit from it the better ;)

It also means you'll potentially get input from other people with more/different experience to me, and that is (almost) always a good thing when you're trying to solve a problem.



pHruit

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Posted 19 November 2018 - 04:01 PM

I fully understand the privacy thing - in our line of work we all pick up various details about our businesses that are not appropriate to share here. I'm not sure what the messaging restriction is here - I've seen forums with minimums of 0/5/10/25 messages.

As for guidelines, there is unfortunately nothing that springs to mind. Part of the difficulty is that some of these issues can be very case-specific, so general guidelines may not be very useful, but a significant part of it is around commercial confidentiality and people being reticent to admit to having issues of this type.
I know that the AIJN were putting together an anonymised database of Alicyclobacillus incidents affecting juices but unfortunately I'm not familiar with anything similar for HRM.

I'd recommended googling and reading almost everything you can find. As with most information on the internet, some of it will be very good, some will be wrong/useless, so you'll have to exercise some judgement in interpreting it...

Nonetheless, given that there are some similarities with ACB and this does have some information available then reading some of this could be useful - for example, the AIJN Best Practice guideline on ACB.
I do think it's worth progressing with the investigation though before putting too much time into any given area of reading - if it turns out to be a problem with the process then learning about HRM in raw materials is something to follow with at a later date when you're under less pressure!



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HabibBF

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Posted 20 November 2018 - 08:10 AM

Thanks pHruit, I really appreciate your intervention !

 

I fully understand the privacy thing - in our line of work we all pick up various details about our businesses that are not appropriate to share here. I'm not sure what the messaging restriction is here - I've seen forums with minimums of 0/5/10/25 messages.

As for guidelines, there is unfortunately nothing that springs to mind. Part of the difficulty is that some of these issues can be very case-specific, so general guidelines may not be very useful, but a significant part of it is around commercial confidentiality and people being reticent to admit to having issues of this type.
I know that the AIJN were putting together an anonymised database of Alicyclobacillus incidents affecting juices but unfortunately I'm not familiar with anything similar for HRM.

I'd recommended googling and reading almost everything you can find. As with most information on the internet, some of it will be very good, some will be wrong/useless, so you'll have to exercise some judgement in interpreting it...

Nonetheless, given that there are some similarities with ACB and this does have some information available then reading some of this could be useful - for example, the AIJN Best Practice guideline on ACB.
I do think it's worth progressing with the investigation though before putting too much time into any given area of reading - if it turns out to be a problem with the process then learning about HRM in raw materials is something to follow with at a later date when you're under less pressure!





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