Microbiología Alimentaria

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. "

Nova Diet encuentra la solución a la homogenización de todas sus muestras con el Smasher®

Nova Diet es especialista en el desarrollo, fabricación y comercialización de complementos alimenticios, productos para el control de peso, plantas medicinales, oligoelementos, así como alimentos ecológicos y cosmética natural.

El laboratorio de microbiologia  trabaja con el triturador Smasher®. La Dra. Ana Sofía López González, del Departamento Técnico, nos habla del uso del triturador en su trabajo diario en el laboratorio.

Las ventajas que han obtenido al empezar a utilizar el Smasher® han sido: "Mayor rapidez en la trituración, homogeniza  todo tipo de muestras y el porcentaje de rotura de bolsas es muy bajo, además de la disminución del ruido mientras tritura. Por otra parte, la facilidad de limpieza del equipo constituye una gran ventaja ya que se reduce el tiempo de limpieza si hay rotura de bolsa por su fácil acceso, desmonte de palas y cambio de posición del Smasher®."

Les aporta nuevas soluciones para la rutina en su laboratorio:"Podemos triturar todo tipo de muestras: cápsulas vegetales, softgels, comprimidos, barritas,.... gracias a sus tres velocidades diferentes, manteniendo la bolsa intacta""...por nuestra experiencia con diferentes tipos de muestras, podemos recomendarlo a cualquier usuario por la gran versatilidad del Smasher®"

El Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA) elige el triturador Smasher® para la preparación de sus muestras

Margarita Garriga, jefe de unidad y coordinadora del programa de Seguridad Alimentaria en el centro de Tecnología de los Alimentos en Monells, Girona, nos da su opinión sobre este equipo de diseño único.

Tras haber evaluado el Smasher®, las mejoras que destaca son las siguientes:"...la ausencia de ruido durante su funcionamiento, la comodidad que ofrece en el momento de su limpieza y desinfección y la digitalización, la cual permite controlar mejor el tiempo deseado en cada tratamiento..."

Margarita Garriga recomienda el uso del Smasher® "a cualquier laboratorio de calidad, de investigación, etc. que manipule muestras alimentarias", ya que el equipo "aporta comodidad y practicidad en su uso" y "responde a una adecuada trituración y homogenización de varios tipos de muestras alimentarias".

Margarita Garriga - IRTA - Monells, Girona (España)

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

Heineken Sevilla decidió automatizar su laboratorio con AES CHEMUNEX

Heineken, empresa líder en el sector cervecero español, utiliza los sistemas AES para la preparación y distribución de medios y caldos de cultivo Masterclave 09 + APS320 y XY500 + PM05.

Virginia Rojano Ramos, Jefe de laboratorio Fisico-Químico y Microbiología nos habla sobre su experiencia con el uso de nuestros equipos.

"Nuestro laboratorio tramita diariamente una gran cantidad de muestras, en consecuencia la cantidad de placas y tubos preparados diariamente es muy grande, lo que antes nos conllevaba dedicar mucho tiempo a esta tarea."

"Desde que utilizamos los equipos para la preparación y distribución de medios de cultivo, conseguimos ahorrar tiempo y además obtenemos unos resultados fiables, así como trazabilidad en las muestras gracias a la impresión lateral de las placas."

"Además de ahorrar en tiempo, este tipo de equipos solucionan una parte muy importante de optimizar los recursos humanos, lo que es de gran ayuda en un laboratorio con poco personal."

Virginia Rojano Ramos - Heineken (Sevilla, España)

Juanjo Grau es el Director Técnico del departamento de microbiología del

Laboratori Agroalimentari Ambiental Girona, S.L.

Su laboratorio realiza ensayos de productos alimenticios y aguas destinadas al consumo humano.

El laboratorio trabaja con una amplia gama de nuestros productos, y está tramitando ante ENAC la acreditación de dos de nuestros protocolos de métodos alternativos con validación ISO: 16140 REBECCA y SMS.

"Quería conseguir un medio tan fiable como el de referencia pero de respuesta más rápida y económico."

Nuestros productos "Satisfacen la demanda del mercado de rapidez en la entrega de resultados de los análisis." Y lo más importante "Conseguimos la satisfacción de nuestros clientes."

En cuanto a la calidad de los productos AES CHEMUNEX

"Nuestro laboratorio, por imperativo ISO: 17025, realiza de forma aleatoria una serie de controles y hasta la fecha están dando unos resultados satisfactorios".

 Y sobre nuestro equipo humano

"El equipo actual marca con claridad la diferencia, especialmente el departamento comercial y el departamento de asesoría que han facilitado enormemente mis tomas de decisiones en el campo técnico."

El equipo de Laboratori Agroalimentari Ambiental Girona, S.L. en sus instalaciones.

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.

LABAQUA reduce tiempos de preparación de medios de cultivo utilizando APS ONE + Masterclave 09 + LINX

LABAQUA empresa que se dedica a servicios medioambientales, diagnóstico y consultoría, decidió utilizar el sistema APS ONE + Masterclave 09 + LINX, para la fabricación de sus medios de cultivo en placas de Petri.

Según Vicente Catalán, Responsable de I+D y microbiología, el uso del sistema "permite automatizar la preparación de los medios de cultivo, reduciendo los costes y tiempos de preparación". Consiguiendo además una "normalización de los procesos de control de calidad".

Los motivos principales por los cuales eligieron el sistema APS ONE + Masterclave 09 + LINX fueron: "el nivel tecnológico del equipo, el coste y el servicio técnico del fabricante en España".

Vicente Catalán - Responsable de I+D y microbiología - LABAQUA, España

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

"La innovadora técnica de PCR del sistema ADIAFOOD de la casa Aes Chemunex, trata de mejorar las técnicas de análisis de las que hoy en día podemos disponer, ofreciendo a través de una metodología muy sencilla unos resultados rápidos y fiables, lo que nos permite liberar nuestro producto eficazmente en menos de 24h.

 Este paso, ha supuesto un gran adelanto, sobretodo en la industria alimentaria, ya que permite facilitar la disponibilidad del producto directamente desde fábrica en el menor tiempo posible y con una fiabilidad acorde con las exigencias estipuladas.

 Además de la innovadora técnica ADIAFOOD, quiero destacar la eficacia del servicio prestado por el personal técnico responsable de la PCR, el cual ha sido excepcional y de gran ayuda para la puesta en marcha de dicho sistema en nuestra empresa. No sólo nos han ayudado ha resolver cualquier duda o problema que nos ha podido surgir con la técnica PCR o con cualquier otra metodología analítica aquí empleada, sino que, además nos han aconsejado y ayudado con sus novedosos y eficaces medios y materiales que ofertan, a mejorar y ser más precisos y rápidos en el desarrollo de nuestro trabajo."

Raquel Sancho Falco

Laboratory Manager

Cinco Tenedores.

"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."