alcohol and C.bot

Hi All,

We are developing a RTD alcoholic cocktail in can. Normally products like that are just pasteurised as combination of low pH and alcohol does the job. But NPD we are looking at has much higher pH >5.

I have seen some studies suggesting that >6% alcohol stops c bot.

So my question is, is alcohol alone abv >6% an acceptable hurdle, does anyone have any experience with that in the UK, and with retailers?

thanks!

Hello,

This is what I could find on the topic: "Growth and neurotoxin production were delayed by an ethanol concentration of 4% ethanol and completely inhibited by a concentration of 6%" (Daifas, D. P., Smith, J. P., Blanchfield, B., Cadieux, B., Sanders, G., & Austin, J. W. (2003). Effect of ethanol on the growth of Clostridium botulinum. Journal of food protection, 66(4), 610–617. https://doi.org/10.4...2-028x-66.4.610). I would just make sure testing is done to ensure you are not producing botulism drinks. 

Thanks Shrimper, That where I got my 6% too. This gives me some reassurance, but I am not confident that this would be strong enough evidence that can be applied to our product. Seems like challenge test is way to go.