Microbiologic answers in hours, not days, for beverage processors

Microfluidics may be the basis of a new microbiological detection method being developed by a collaboration between the Fraunhofer ICT-IMM Institute and Döhler.

Food safety is always of paramount importance to food and beverage manufacturers and processors — hence the need for microbiological validation and approval of products before they leave the plant.

Unfortunately this quality assurance step can take several days, resulting in manufacturers having to store product in a ‘holding bay’ until they are cleared. Not only does this create space constraints for processors, it also means that the shelf life of products has been shortened by several days by the time they reach their commercial outlet. As many food products already have limited shelf lives, this time can become quite critical.

While Döhler already offers a portfolio of solutions for detecting microorganisms in beverages, the company is always keen to develop new solutions that make the detection of microorganisms in foods and beverages quicker, easier and more reliable.

To this end, Döhler and the Fraunhofer ICT-IMM are partnering to examine how microfluidic solutions can be used to detect microorganisms and ensure that the quality of products is available as quickly as possible.

The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to develop a system that will enable processors to monitor the microbiological quality of beverages online in real time. The first objective of the microfluidics-based process is to detect beverage-spoiling microorganisms in a matter of hours, and not, as is the current state-of-the-art method, in several days.