High yeast and ACC in Sesame dressing

Hello Food safety team,

Sesame dressing low pH (below 4.2) Stored below 8 degrees found blown bottles after 20 days of producing. When sent for testing >300000 cfu for ACC and yeast.

What is causing high yeast and ACC and product is blown in bottle?

Greetings Fijiball,

The pH doesn't really affect yeasts and ACC are an indicator of general hygiene. For the easy one, which is ACC, you should look into better and more thorough cleaning practices, especially in hard-to-get places, personnel hygiene (hand washing, working uniforms etc). Also, you will need to check the responsibles for performing the cleaning, maybe it is lacking or not properly applied or wrong use of cleaning/ disinfection agents.

For the difficult part -yeasts- you must identify the source. One possibility is that the sesame comes in already compromised and making a dressing out of it, just makes it easier for the yeasts to grow. Another possibility is that somehow somewhere in your production line you have yeasts, maybe from residues that are stuck somewhere in the line. A third possibility, but a bit less likely if it is only yeasts, is you could have someplace in the production that is infected and you get spores in the product.

The blown bottle is due to the gasses produced from the metabolic activity of the microorganisms.

The first solution for all this is an inside-out detailed cleaning and disinfection of literally everything, so you can at least start aknew. The rest are applied as appropriate for maintaining the risk free production environment.

Regards!

Thanks Evans.

We use non heat treated chili flakes and non pasteurized lime juice in the product. the product is made with simple mixing and filled ambient and store below 8 degrees.

Would these 2 raw material would have any impact on Yeast and ACC as no issues identified in our ATP swabs.

I would test them at least for yeasts. If you have excluded the sesame as the source of the yeasts then the next possible candidate and very much at that is the lime juice. It is less likely to be the chili flakes but if the lime juice comes back negative test that too.

Don't test the lime juice though at the first day of reception. If a batch of lime juice stays for example 5 days until it is all used up, then take the sample at around 4 or 5 days.

Also, check the containers. If you see a white-ish pulp-like mass suspended in there, then you must consdier going for pasteurized lime juice. Believe me, propably it is not pulp!