Sprouted buckwheat smell off and unpleasant
Hi,
The two batches of sprouted buckwheat we produced recently had strong unpleasant odor. For me, the smell was stinky and slightly fishy, rather than the normal smell that would be generated with sprouting other grains.
Even after being dried and ground into flour, the smell remains.
We sent three samples for testing Salmonella, Listeria Monocytogenes, E.coli O157 H7, and yeast & mold. All results were negative except for yeast. Yeast did get detected a lot, But I think this is normal for germinated grains, similar to fermented products.
So we are now confused about what could be causing the smell.
One of our operator said it was not unusual for buckwheat, and sprouted buckwheat always has that particular smell. However, another QA stated that they had never experienced such a strong unpleasant smell before.
Does anyone know what the cause might be?
Many thanks,
RL
I have no experience in this area, but at least the path is:
How much is "a lot" on the yeast numbers?
Hi,
The two batches of sprouted buckwheat we produced recently had strong unpleasant odor. For me, the smell was stinky and slightly fishy, rather than the normal smell that would be generated with sprouting other grains.
Even after being dried and ground into flour, the smell remains.
We sent three samples for testing Salmonella, Listeria Monocytogenes, E.coli O157 H7, and yeast & mold. All results were negative except for yeast. Yeast did get detected a lot, But I think this is normal for germinated grains, similar to fermented products.
So we are now confused about what could be causing the smell.
One of our operator said it was not unusual for buckwheat, and sprouted buckwheat always has that particular smell. However, another QA stated that they had never experienced such a strong unpleasant smell before.
Does anyone know what the cause might be?
Many thanks,
RL
I'm thinking this might just be one of the derivative aromatic organic compounds naturally occurring during fermentation. Especially if its passing on some of the more common pathogens on your list. Some of the stinkier pathogens imho would be S. aureus, E. coli, and C. perfringens but you would have had some level of detection with general testing, and you'd probably know... these can be foul.
How much is "a lot" on the yeast numbers?
> 4500
I'm thinking this might just be one of the derivative aromatic organic compounds naturally occurring during fermentation. Especially if its passing on some of the more common pathogens on your list. Some of the stinkier pathogens imho would be S. aureus, E. coli, and C. perfringens but you would have had some level of detection with general testing, and you'd probably know... these can be foul.
Thanks for sharing. This is helpful. We would like to send out more samples for testing since we want to know the root cause but we were not sure what we need to test.
Thanks for sharing. This is helpful. We would like to send out more samples for testing since we want to know the root cause but we were not sure what we need to test.
I would say send it to a lab willing to work with you and maybe use a wide array of tests on a couple samples.
Tests like (Gram Staining, (indicator testing... AC/EB/etc.), and maybe some more selective media plating's/overlays?) (its a process xD)
Keep me posted as I am curious myself, but just based off what you've said, It could be possible that its an aromatic compound not related to foodborne pathogens, more so related to your process.
As Prplom alluded to, you could have some other microorganism - not a pathogen - proliferating and making smelly metabolites that made it into the flour.
I noticed your micro tests were for pathogens and Y+M only, which won't tell you if there is a spoliage bacteria like Pseudomonas present. Maybe try a less-selective micro test like TPC/APC too next time?
I don't know much about sprouted grains. Do you / can you control microorganisms during sprouting?
I too would test for apc/tpc. that might tell you if you have a micro issue or something else going on.
if it is bacteria related and you want to know what it might be - rather than trying to do a mess of specific testing, a microbial profile may interest you. It will give the percentage of each bacteria down to the genus level present in the sample. I know neogen does these inexpensively.