Food Microbiology

The Jean Brient group is present in the principal large supermarket chains (Système U, Leclerc, Carrefour, Casino, etc.) in France with its delicatessen and salted pork products. It employs over 250 people at its two sites in Ille-et-Vilaine (Antrain and Mordelles).

Mrs Ruffien
Laboratory Manager
Jean Brient - Mordelles (France)

"The Dilumat® S: saving time to optimize the organization of the laboratory"

"In our control laboratory, we analyse around 40 samples a day. They come from our various types of processed pork products, black puddings, roast pork, ham, pâté, etc. We also carry out environmental analyses. Previously, for the sample dilution stage, we used to use a manual method with ready-to-use glass
broth bottles.
The disadvantages of this method lay in dealing with the glass: the possibility of breakage, the volume of the glass, and the cost of waste disposal. What's more, it took up a great deal of time, and the operation was very tedious (repetitive movements). Preparing the reagents (bottles) also used to be very time-consuming, compared with the ready-to-use bags, which also save us storage space and time spent putting them away.

We were won over to the Dilumat® S because of it is convenience, its performance (for example, the dilution accuracy), the time it saves us - and above all, the end cost of the analysis using the Dilumat® S was very
attractive. We found it very easy to get used to it - we were up and running on our own right from Day 1. We're very satisfied with the Dilumat® S: it takes up very little bench space, it's simple to use (we use it with Dilubag® diluent bags) and program, and its automatic arm makes it very user-friendly.

It saves us a very appreciable amount of time, as the fully automatic dilution lets us do ‘other things' at the same time. This has enabled us to reorganize things in the laboratory more efficiently. "

"I'm a big fan of the quality of Smasher's construction and durability. It's a quality product, easy to use and very user friendly. When we saw it we knew right away that it was perfect, we had to have it...We were also surprised by how quiet Smasher is."

A Smasher Fan Explains...

Josh Farnsworth, MS, is the Quality Control Manager for theAtlanta and Lakeland Bakery Plants for Publix Super Markets, Inc.

Publix manufactures numerous bakery products for its 1,000 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama.

"My department is responsible for making and analyzing the dry mixes for the bakery products baked in the retail level. We operate 24 hours a day, testing over 1,000 samples per week. For example, we provide the dry mix of flour and other ingredients, so that when bread is baked at the Publix stores, our bakers only have to incorporate water in yeast. Everything else is pre-measured and pre-mixed," explains Josh.
 
"We make a lot of the mixes for a variety of products including raw cookies, Danish, turnovers, cakes, pies and muffins. A large part of what we do in the lab is analyze the mixes for salt, PH and sugar content (brix). It's critical that we get the ratios of these ingredients correct so that the products bake off right and taste good," adds Josh, who has been using Smasher since July 2007.

According to the QC Manager, "We use the Smasher for our dry mix flour bags to make sure the chemistry is right in our 1,000 pound bulk bins before the mix is bagged for use in the stores. When testing, we blend 1.5 ounces of flour and mix with salt, sugar, other ingredients and 300 ml of water. Smasher does an amazing job of coming up with a homogenized mix that we can run through our analyzers."
 
"Our old blender was not completely mixing the product and we were not getting a uniform sample. The first time we used Smasher, there was no clumping and the mix was much more complete and uniform," Josh points out.
 
"We also were surprised by how quiet the Smasher is. Our old blender was so loud, that our safety leader required us to use hearing protection whenever it was in use. Using the old blender up to four times an hour in a small lab space caused a decibel level that was almost an occupational hazard; no one liked it," recalls Josh.  "With Smasher being so quiet, it was a welcome break, now we don't have to use hearing protection in the lab. Smasher made our lab a much nicer environment."
 
"Smasher gives us more consistency from operator to operator. It's very easy and safe to clean after every use. We just take out the sample bag and throw it away. With the old blender we had to spend time washing it and having to be careful not to get cut on the blades, which would also dull over time," adds Josh. "We don't have to worry about blades with Smasher. Smasher eliminated three safety issues - noise, sharp blades and hot water for cleaning."
 
According to Josh, "Smasher has saved us money not having to replace blenders or blender parts. There is a cost for the sample bags, but it's worth it. Smasher saves us time in the lab not having to spend time cleaning the blender or sample dishes. It allows our lab folks to improve their efficiency. People got behind Smasher immediately because it improved their enjoyment level as well, not having to deal with the noise or cleaning of the old blender. Smasher sold itself."

Nova Diet has found the solution for the blending of all its samples with the Smasher^®

Nova Diet is a specialist in the development, manufacturing and distribution of food supplements, products for weight control, medicinal plants, oligoelements as wellas organic food and natural cosmetics.

Dr Ana Sofía López González works in the Technical Department: "The advantages of the Smasher^® are numerous: its high speed of blending, its capacity to homogenize all kinds of samples, its low percentage of damaged bags as well as its low noise level when blending. The easy cleaning of the equipment is also another major advantage as it reduces the cleaning time in case of broken bags thanks to its easy access, its removable paddles and the possibility to tilt it at 45°."

"We can blend several kinds of samples: vegetal capsules, tablets, ...thanks to its three different speeds while maintaining the bag intact. Thanks to our experience in the analysis of different kinds of samples, we can recommend the Smasher^® to any user because of its great versatility. "

The IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries) has chosen the Smasher^® blender for the preparation of its samples

Margarita Garriga, the Unit Manager and Food Security Program Coordinator, in the Food Techology Centre in Girona (Spain).  

After having tested the Smasher^®, the main improvements she has highlighted are: "the absence of noise during its functioning, it is easy-to-clean and disinfect,  and the digital screen which allows to control better the required blending time for each treatment..."

Margarita Garriga recommends the use of the Smasher^® to "all quality, research laboratories, etc. which handle food samples. This easy-to-use equipment brings a very good blending and homogenization for several kinds of food samples."

The Smasher : a quiet operation & an excellent blending efficiency

"We analyze about 100 samples per week in our laboratory. We carry out classical microbiological controls: total flora, enterobacteriacae, coliforms and also listeria, salmonella, etc.

The element that has been decisive in the choice of Smasher is its exceptionally quiet running. We testes and compared with several others blenders. Its silent operation allows a comfortable working environment without the use of hearing protection.

Another major advantage is its blending efficiency. Using Smasher in fast mode for 30 seconds, we get a much better blending quality compared to our former blender, even after 1 minute of use."

Finally, its original design with its rounded shape makes cleaning really easy, both inside and outside."

Miss LEVAVASSEUR - AIM GROUP - Aintrain (France)

“Our microbiology laboratory has chosen the Smasher® blenders for their very low noise level, ensuring a comfortable use and avoiding us using earing protection.
Our choice criteria were also the automatically adjustable mixing speed, allowing good sample dispersion, and the easy cleaning and disinfection.
Then the ergonomic and innovating design of the Smasher® was the last argument which helped us to make our decision.”

Thierry Salvayre,
Control Laboratory Manager
Cargill Texturizing Solutions (50) - France

Rosa GASOL -Director - APSALAB (Pintaluba Group) - Reus, Spain

“Our laboratory checks the presence of Salmonella in animal feeding stuffs.
SMS® is a rapid and easy-to-use screening method which is the most adapted
to our laboratory workload. Moreover, SMS® is more sensitive than other
rapid methods and is much more affordable.”

Christian GUIGNARD - Laboratory Manager TRIBALLAT Noyal-sur-Vilaine, France

“I have chosen the SMS® method because it is AFNOR/ISO 16140 validated for all
foodstuffs and it is easy-to-use.”

Julien GUILLORY  - TRANSAL Laboratory (Doux Group) La Vraie Croix, France

“Since the withdrawal of the NF V08-052 routine norm, our laboratory has to
be accredited according to ISO 6579 standard; we have chosen an AFNOR/ISO
16140 validated alternative method which is much faster than the reference
one. SMS® is an easy-to-use, rapid and efficient method with a very good
specificity.”

Lætitia JARNIER - Quality Assurance Manager - Departmental Analysis Laboratory - Tulle, France

“The Departmental Laboratory of Corrèze carries out microbiological
controls for food manufacturers. We chose the SMS® method two years ago
and obtained the COFRAC accreditation for this method. This technique
provides fast results to our customers. We appreciate this product because
it is reliable (we get good results in inter-laboratories tests) and easy to
use.”

Carole LEMAITRE - Microbiology Laboratory Manager - Albhades Laboratory - Oraison, France

“The routine use of the SMS® method has let our laboratory significantly save
money and time. Results are given earlier especially in the case of presumptive
positive samples that have to be confirmed (contrary to our previous method
which didn’t offer the possibility to re-isolate the bacteria). After a short training
period, we are confident with the SMS® results.”

Juan S. VILLAR - Quality Director - APC Europe - Granoller, Spain

“APC Europe is an ingredient manufacturer for food and animal feeding
producers. We have decided to use SMS® in routine since the cost/reliability
ratio is better than our previous ELISA method. We have been able to prove
that the sensitivity and the reproducibility of SMS® are better since the
analytical protocol requires only a few steps.”

Heineken decides to automate its laboratory with AES CHEMUNEX

Heineken, the leading brewer in Spain, uses AES CHEMUNEX equipment for the preparation and dispensing of its culture media and broths: Masterclave 09 + APS320, XY500+PM05.

Virginia Rojano Ramos, the Physics & Chemistry and Microbiology laboratory Manager, speaks about her experience in using the AES CHEMUNEX products.

"Our laboratory handles a great number of samples every day. As a consequence we have many plates and tubes to prepare on a daily basis and this task requires a lot of time."

"Since we have been using the equipment to prepare and dispense culture media, we save time, we also get reliable results as well as a full traceability of the samples thanks to the lateral printing on the plates".

"In addition to the time saving, these systems allow us to optimize the number of workers which is a great advantage for a small laboratory."

Kevin W. Smith, CLT

Bacteriology Manager

Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network

Oakwood, Ga 30566

Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network is primarily involved in environmental testing for Salmonella for several hundred poultry growers producing eggs and meat in Georgia and out-of-state growers serving Georgia. As the state agency for the National Poultry Improvement Plan, we are experiencing a dramatic increase in testing volume in response to new FDA rules for more intensive monitoring of poultry growers, which came after a recent major national outbreak.

In the Bacteriology Lab, we have a 12-person team that typically analyses between 3,000 and 7,000 environmental samples from the poultry houses (floor, boots and dust swabs) per month against over 2,000 types of Salmonella. If a meat grower tests positive, we will culture the birds. If an egg grower tests positive, especially for some of the more virulent strains of Salmonella, that grower has to provide us with 1,000 eggs every two weeks for two months. That is significant volume for an already busy lab and creates an all-hands-on-deck event for us.

Because of the volume of tests we do, we cannot afford to purchase prepared media, so we make our own media in large quantities. For one of the broths we use, we can go through up to 30 liters per day. We had people constantly boiling media to keep up, which took up a lot of time that could have been spent on other higher-level lab activities.

We purchased the Masterclave 528 because we needed an instrument with quick turnaround time, which could handle high volumes and was easy to use. Of all the instrumentation we looked at on the market, Masterclave 528 was only alternative for us. Would have needed to buy two instruments of what competitors had to offer.

Once we got the financing in place, we were up and running right away. The instrument shipped quickly, was installed promptly and staff was trained in a couple of days. It is very easy to maintain and clean up. The Masterclave 528 has exceeded all of our expectations. Now, within two hours, we can make the same amount of media it used to take us a full day to make. This has enabled us to free up staff for conducting more tests.

The Masterclave 528 is very economical in the amount of space is takes up and is very flexible and mobile. We are planning to use the instrument in two lab locations in a new facility we are building. We have already included connections for the Masterclave in the lab plans.

Masterclave 528 has really done an excellent job. It is designed just for what we need, so it has been a perfect fit for us.

«The amount of analysed samples is growing by about 20 % per year. The Labelmaster enables us to face this growth and let us save about 3 hours per day. We use about 1000 plates per day. The Labelmaster provides standardised and reliable analysis preparation. It is a very good investment."
Mr. Perrin, laboratory manager of the CVPA contract laboratory (F-Saint-Malo)

Labaqua has reduced the time to prepare culture media thanks to APS ONE + Masterclave 09 + LINX

Labaqua provides a complete range of testing and support services to the environmental industry.

Vicente Catalán, Manager of the R&D and microbiology department:

"This equipment enables us to automate the culture media preparation, reducing costs, preparation time, and also to set a standard for the quality control process."

 

The elements that have been decisive in the choice of these products: "the technology, the price and the technical service available in Spain. »

APS One new automated Petri dish filling system evaluated by the Rennes Hospital

"10 litres of culture media in just 40 minutes without reloading the carousel!"

"We were pleasantly surprised by the speed and efficiency of the APS One from AES CHEMUNEX. APS One is very reliable and can carry out a complete culture media dispensing cycle without supervision . The large plate loading capacity makes it ideal and it's a true walk-away pouring system.

Its high-speed filling rate was very useful. The double pump accessory makes this automated filler very practical for large volumes: 10 litres of media in just 40 minutes without any need to reload the carousel with empty Petri dishes!

Loading the columns of the carousel is simple as the nominal height facilitates the easy stacking of Petri dishes.

Another innovative aspect of the APS One is the pouring quality: smooth, level media in the Petri dishes without any "wave" effect. This is ideal for blood ager and chocolate agar plates.

We also appreciated the flexibility of use, clear menus, colour display screen and the fact that it is easy to use. The APS One provides high quality, sterile plates, minimizing the risk of contamination with the machine's easy to clean, smooth surfaces. The risk of contamination of sterile distributed media is radically reduced because the opening of each plate is limited to 4 seconds per Petri dish when pouring.

The facility to change the distribution volume at any time during operation is also very reassuring and practical.

We also noticed that it was easy to remove the carousel, if required, as there are no screws, but nonetheless it is an effective assembly. Furthermore the shuttle system is very accessible and easily removable allowing free access for thorough cleaning. "

M. GAUDIN - Bacteriology laboratory- CH Rennes, France

" The Adiafood technology innovative PCR technique provides an amelioration to the current analytical techniques we have today, offering fast and reliable results thanks to a very simple methodology, wchich allows us to efficently release our products in less than 24h.

This solution has provided a great progress in the food industry as it simplifies the availability of the product directly from the factory in a minimum time and with a reliability that is confom with the existing criteria.

Further to Adiafood great technique, I would like to emphasize on the service offered by the PCR technical team which has been exceptional and of great help for the set up of such a technique. Not only have they been able to solve any problem or doubt about PCR or any other methodology, but they have helped and given us advice on their new and efficient materials and methods to improve our day to day work in terms of speed, simplicity and reliability of the analytical methods."

Mrs Raquel Sancho Falco

Laboratory Manager

Cinco Tenedores

Spain

"I'm a big fan of the quality of Smasher's construction and durability. It's a quality product, easy to use and very user friendly. When we saw it we knew right away that it was perfect, we had to have it...We were also surprised by how quiet Smasher is."

A Smasher Fan Explains...

Josh Farnsworth, MS, is the Quality Control Manager for theAtlanta and Lakeland Bakery Plants for Publix Super Markets, Inc.

Publix manufactures numerous bakery products for its 1,000 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama.

"My department is responsible for making and analyzing the dry mixes for the bakery products baked in the retail level. We operate 24 hours a day, testing over 1,000 samples per week. For example, we provide the dry mix of flour and other ingredients, so that when bread is baked at the Publix stores, our bakers only have to incorporate water in yeast. Everything else is pre-measured and pre-mixed," explains Josh.
 
"We make a lot of the mixes for a variety of products including raw cookies, Danish, turnovers, cakes, pies and muffins. A large part of what we do in the lab is analyze the mixes for salt, PH and sugar content (brix). It's critical that we get the ratios of these ingredients correct so that the products bake off right and taste good," adds Josh, who has been using Smasher since July 2007.

According to the QC Manager, "We use the Smasher for our dry mix flour bags to make sure the chemistry is right in our 1,000 pound bulk bins before the mix is bagged for use in the stores. When testing, we blend 1.5 ounces of flour and mix with salt, sugar, other ingredients and 300 ml of water. Smasher does an amazing job of coming up with a homogenized mix that we can run through our analyzers."
 
"Our old blender was not completely mixing the product and we were not getting a uniform sample. The first time we used Smasher, there was no clumping and the mix was much more complete and uniform," Josh points out.
 
"We also were surprised by how quiet the Smasher is. Our old blender was so loud, that our safety leader required us to use hearing protection whenever it was in use. Using the old blender up to four times an hour in a small lab space caused a decibel level that was almost an occupational hazard; no one liked it," recalls Josh.  "With Smasher being so quiet, it was a welcome break, now we don't have to use hearing protection in the lab. Smasher made our lab a much nicer environment."
 
"Smasher gives us more consistency from operator to operator. It's very easy and safe to clean after every use. We just take out the sample bag and throw it away. With the old blender we had to spend time washing it and having to be careful not to get cut on the blades, which would also dull over time," adds Josh. "We don't have to worry about blades with Smasher. Smasher eliminated three safety issues - noise, sharp blades and hot water for cleaning."
 
According to Josh, "Smasher has saved us money not having to replace blenders or blender parts. There is a cost for the sample bags, but it's worth it. Smasher saves us time in the lab not having to spend time cleaning the blender or sample dishes. It allows our lab folks to improve their efficiency. People got behind Smasher immediately because it improved their enjoyment level as well, not having to deal with the noise or cleaning of the old blender. Smasher sold itself."