Beverage Case Study (Mexico)

Area of Interest

An international beverage manufacturing company contacted STX Bioscience due to concerns about microbial buildup on capping machine mandrels on all production lines.

Problem

For several years, intermittent concentrations of microbes outside internally established limits were detected on capping machine mandrels at the plant. Current sanitation procedures were not consistently successful. High microbial counts inside capping machine mandrels can cause product quality problems, downtime and even product loss.

Context

The mandrels of the capping machines contain small spaces where microorganisms concentrate and are difficult to clean thoroughly. Other chemicals were tried before reinstalling the mandrels, but the results were not satisfactory. The company turned to STX Bioscience to incorporate more robust and replicable solutions into the current sanitation standard operating procedure (SSOP) to eliminate the challenges associated with microorganism concentration spaces on capper mandrels.

Results

Before treatment
The action limit of the facility in relation to bacteria, yeast and mold is 10 CFU. Before treatment with Ultra Disinfectant Cleaner Solution and Ultra Activator Solution, The CFU results on the capper mandrels were DNPC (too numerous to count).

After using STX Bioscience
After modifying their POES with the inclusion of STX Bioscience, yeast and mold counts dropped to zero.