Media Fills Test for Beverages

Contamination of the filling lines in the beverage industry can cause a loss of millions of product units. It can also result in considerable reprocessing, disposal, and product-recall costs as well as damage to the brand reputation and consumer confidence. Media fill tests for beverages ensure that the filling line is not contaminated with spoilage bacteria, yeasts, or molds, during the production of low-acid aseptic beverages.

• Linden Grain Medium for Media Fill Simulations
• Superior Powdered Media for Media Fill Tests
• Suitability Of Linden Grain Medium for Ice-Crusher Testing
• Consistent High-Quality Media Fill in Aseptic Environments
• Comprehensive Solutions for Media Fill Simulations

LINDEN GRAIN MEDIUM FOR MEDIA FILL SIMULATIONS OF BEVERAGE BOTTLING AND ICE-CRUSHER INSTALLATIONS

Our ready-mixed granulated Linden Grain Medium is a high-quality alternative to powdered media and is ideal for the detection of yeasts, molds, and bacteria in beverages. It was successfully developed in cooperation with Coca-Cola HBC AG, Zug, Switzerland, for media fill simulations.

The nutrient content of the medium creates optimum growth conditions for fungi and bacteria. The pH of the medium can be adjusted to the filling line criteria (as low as pH 4.1), allowing the growth of fungi and bacteria that are adapted to grow under highly acidic conditions.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF LINDEN GRAIN MEDIUM

This high-quality medium is safe, easy to use, and ensures reliable results.

• Ready-mixed and easily soluble
• Granulated to minimize toxic and allergenic dust
• Granules reduce on-site contamination with media dust
• Meets highest performance standards in production and QC as described in major company standards (ISO 11133)
• Available in 5 kg and cost-saving 25 kg sizes

We also offer halal & kosher-certified Linden Grain Medium

• Identical in composition and performance
• Halal certified acc. to JAKIM standards
• Certified kosher by KF Kosher
• Available in powder format

SUPERIOR POWDERED MEDIA FOR MEDIA FILL TESTS

Our Linden Grain Medium is typically prepared in large volumes of more than 5,000 liters for a single media fill test – no need to source, buy, mix, and quality control individual raw materials.

The unique granulated format of Linden Grain Medium ensures:

• Excellent solubility and free-flowing properties
• No component separation and clumping, even under warm or humid conditions
• Homogenous distribution of non-animal-based ingredients
• Less dust formation. Reduces cleaning efforts and limits the spread of media components that may be hazardous or trigger allergic reactions

SUITABILITY OF LINDEN GRAIN MEDIUM FOR ICE-CRUSHER TESTING

Linden Grain Medium possesses properties that make it suitable for microbial testing of ice-crusher installations.

• Stable after freezing and thawing (color, pH)
• Performance after freezing comparable to freshly prepared medium

CONSISTENT HIGH-QUALITY MEDIA FILL IN ASEPTIC ENVIRONMENTS

Only carefully selected raw materials are used to manufacture media fills for the beverage industry. Our quality-control procedures include testing the granulated Linden Grain Medium with typical beverage spoilage strains. These results indicate not only excellent performance (see Table 1) but also a level of batch-to-batch consistency that is difficult to achieve when producing Linden Grain Medium by yourself.

Coca-Cola HBC AG, one of the world’s largest cola drinks bottlers, with operations in 28 countries, successfully applies Linden Grain Medium in its aseptic operations.

Table 1. Typical spoilage microorganisms of low-acid beverages: Growth in Millipore^® Linden Grain Medium (B. subtilis used as negative growth control).

Product No.	Description
Linden Grain Medium
1.03790	Linden Grain Medium suitable for sterility testing, for yeasts, for molds, for bacteria
1.02747	Linden Grain Medium Halal (Base) suitable for sterility testing, for yeasts, for molds, for bacteria
Chemicals for pH adjustment of Linden Grain Medium
1.00314	Hydrochloric acid fuming, 37%, EMPROVE® ESSENTIAL, Ph. Eur., BP, JP, NF
1.00804	L(+)-Tartaric acid for analysis EMSURE® ACS, ISO, Reag. Ph Eur

COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS

Typically, a media fill simulation is accompanied by viable and non-viable air monitoring and surface monitoring of the production environment.

• For traditional monitoring, we offer a broad range of microbial air sampling instruments, culture media, contact plates, and dip slides
• For rapid hygiene monitoring, we offer MVP ICON^® multipurpose ATP detection system that combines ATP, chemical concentration, pH, temperature, and conductivity measurement in one hand-held instrument

Related Webinar

• Key Challenges when Selecting Media for Media Fill Tests

  In this webinar, we cover the requirements for aseptic manufacturers when selecting media for media fill tests or aseptic process simulations.