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How do you reduce or eliminate coliforms in packaged baked goods at a cookies and crackers manufacturing company?

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Scottie07

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 05:37 PM

Hi, we have an issue with coliforms at my cookie and cracker factory. It is designed as a typical cookie and cracker factory with long cooling conveyor. Currently we are having a problem with coliforms in our finished products, do you have any ideas on how to reduce this or eliminate it? 



The Food Scientist

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 05:49 PM

Couple of things:

 

1. Check temperature of baking

3. conveyor belt microbiology (review your EMP, and the swabbing of the belt).

4. The packaging you are using

5. If any employees are handling them, you may need to check GMPs, are they washing their hands properly? Coliforms are fecal indicators.

6. the water, the equipment  you use to clean your conveyors with, are you doing coliform testing? 

 

Hope it helps


Everything in food is science. The only subjective part is when you eat it. - Alton Brown.


olenazh

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 06:00 PM

Storage temperature? 



Setanta

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 06:31 PM

Couple of things:

 

1. Check temperature of baking

3. conveyor belt microbiology (review your EMP, and the swabbing of the belt).

4. The packaging you are using

5. If any employees are handling them, you may need to check GMPs, are they washing their hands properly? Coliforms are fecal indicators.

6. the water, the equipment  you use to clean your conveyors with, are you doing coliform testing? 

 

Hope it helps

 

 

Start at the beginning of the process, go through and look at each step to see where coliforms are not controlled. If you don't know what they are in your water, or on your mixers, you can't know what to expect at the end of the line.


-Setanta         

 

 

 


moskito

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Posted 23 December 2020 - 03:29 PM

Hi,

 

my assumption is that the biscuits are ok after the oven. From water activity a bacterial growth should not happen at the surface.
Cooling tunnels/conveyor belts can be a reason for contamination in post-baking steps.

Do you have checked the climate (temperature, temperature distribution, humidity, dew point etc.)? Condensation might be a reason. 

1) cleaning of inner surface of the equipment

2) control of "inner climate"

 

Rgds

 

moskito



Charles.C

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Posted 23 December 2020 - 03:52 PM

Hi, we have an issue with coliforms at my cookie and cracker factory. It is designed as a typical cookie and cracker factory with long cooling conveyor. Currently we are having a problem with coliforms in our finished products, do you have any ideas on how to reduce this or eliminate it? 

 

What level of coliforms ? What microbiological procedure ? VRBA ? MPN ?

Please confirm product is micro.  "free" of coliforms (eg <3MPN/g)  directly after baking. Assumed to be Yes.

 

To summarize the previous posts, you presumably have post-baking contamination.

So you need to study yr product flow / handling pattern and take more samples.


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C




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