Microbiological Studies
At SCIELAB, we can design and carry out microbiological studies tailored to answer your scientific vs. commercial needs, in line to the most appropriate European and international Standards (EN / ISO Standards).
Shelf-life Testing
Shelf-life studies aim to predict or determine the length of time after production and packaging, that food products, stored under specified conditions, can preserve their keeping qualities (i.e., sensory, physicochemical and microbiological) to an acceptable level for use and consumption.
Under EU food labelling law, Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011, date marking of prepacked foods is, in fact, mandatory. Also mandatory is to include instructions for special handling and storing when this is required for the product’s safe use. To this effect, microbiologically perishable foods should be labelled to include “using” and “storing” instructions for both before as well as after the package of such a product has been removed.
Microbiologically perishable foods, should be marked with “use by” dates instead of “best before” dates; until then, they can be safely consumed. Once the use by date is passed, they are treated by law as being “unsafe”, even when their keeping qualities might still be acceptable.
You can confidently entrust SCIELAB to guide you into designing and documenting the shelf-lives of your perishable products responsibly, taking account of realistic market requirements and true product characteristics.
Realistic date marking on your products is important in accomplishing:
- Legal compliance
- Shelf-life
- Reduction of complaints and returns
Microbial challenge studies
Freshly prepared Ready-to Eat (RTE) packaged food products are artificially contaminated with known populations of specific “target” microorganisms, either spoilage, such yeasts or moulds, or pathogenic bacteria (Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Clostridium perfringens etc.). The artificially contaminated RTE food products are subsequently stored under specified conditions, e.g., conditions mimicking shelf-life.
Soon after the artificial inoculation and, also, at predetermined time intervals during storage, food products are tested to determine changes in the “target” populations, manifested either by microbial growth (increase in number), survival (no change), or inhibition (decrease).
If adequately planned, performed and interpreted, such studies are extremely useful in setting and validating food specifications and control points (CPs) in RTE food production processes. In particular, results and conclusions may be used for:
- Setting specifications for releasing finished products
- Identifying risks and for setting specifications for raw materials, semi-ready products and for CPs in food production processes to address those risks
- Preventing unnecessary recalls.
Similar studies may be conducted on:
- In semi-prepared foods, for establishing critical control points (CCPs), e,.g. following a step of thermal inactivation.
- In feeding stuffs, to access potential inhibitory effects of acidifiers on selected bacterial flora (feed additives efficacy tests)
- In Biogas plants to validate the microbial inhibition efficacy of a pasteurisation, or of an alternative to pasteurisation non-thermal process, on Animal-by-Products (ABP) Category 2 and 3.
SCIELAB can help you to build confidence in your products by making food safety plans with realistic risk-oriented controls which are affordable and cost-effective.
Antimicrobial Effectiveness Testing
The aim of antimicrobial effectiveness testing (AET) is to assess the microbiocidal activity of products used as disinfectants or antiseptics in the medical, veterinary, industrial or domestic fields.
In a basic AET assessment, a product is challenged against a defined microbial population and its microbiocidal activity is determined in relation to factors such as concentration, temperature and /or contact time.
More sophisticated protocols may be used in order to study the microbiocidal effect of products against natural microflorae, different types of dirt (interfering substances) and also, particular characteristics of specific surfaces (phase 2, step 2), as well as intended modes of application.
You can confidently entrust SCIELAB to validate the microbiocidal activity of your products and determine the optimum application conditions (efficacy & cost effectiveness!).
EN 14885:2022 – Chemical disinfectants and antiseptics – Application of European Standards for chemical disinfectants and antiseptics
