Establishing methods and guidelines on PUs, preservatives and other options to achieve microbiological stabilisation in low and zero alcohol beers

Project team: Ed Wray
Member subscription funded project
Running: January 2013 – December 2014
Project Number: 4301

New product development means that a wide and varied range of novel drinks (e.g. low and zero alcohol beers/beer mixes/ciders/wines/soft drinks etc) are constantly coming to market. The inherent microbiological stability of drinks varies greatly and it is vital for both product quality and food safety that correct preservation techniques are applied during manufacture. To this end pasteurisation is commonly used in the drinks industry, the effect of which is measured in Pasteurisation Units (PUs). It is important to optimise PUs so that sufficient microbial stability can be obtained without incurring excessive costs or deleterious effects on flavour. This project will investigate the effect of different pasteurisation timings and temperatures on the microbial stability of a range of novel drinks. In some cases, commercial drinks will be inoculated with microorganisms that may be expected to occur in them. In other cases model systems will be used to assess the effects of pH, alcohol content, sugar concentration, etc in maintaining microbial stability.