fbtechreview.comJULY 20238In The Coca-Cola Company we ensure our products are trusted everywhere. Everywhere and every single time, we serve more than 2 billion drinks per day and the only way to achieve this promise is to ensure 100% Quality and Food Safety.Microbiology techniques have evolved; however modern microbiology molecular techniques are only used in few products within the food and beverage sector, mostly in cases where pathogenic risks are high.To modernize microbiology, we must find strategies to embed these techniques into routine testing. Combined efforts of the industry and suppliers are required to deliver simple and affordable microbiology methods that can be used in a routine basis at every manufacturing site.By pooling resources and sharing knowledge, the food and beverages sector can modernize microbiology and ultimately benefit consumers through safe and high-quality products every single time.The largest part of the products within the food and beverage industry poses low risk of pathogens and high risk of spoilage microorganisms. Then, why aren't molecular microbiology methods highly developed to address the needs of this large part of the market?First commercial PCR cyclers became available in the early 90s, real-time PCR instruments were released in 1996 and few years after in the early 2000s second generation sequencing became available, enabling more accurate and faster reads. It is almost 20 years since reliable PCRs were created, , other industries like pharmaceutical and clinical are making good use of the advancement in molecular technology while in the F&B are still highly underutilized. The advantages of molecular methods clear when we deal with any of the common pathogens, in those cases determining that the strain isolated from a patient is the same collected from the contaminated food or from CHALLENGES OF MODERNIZING MICROBIOLOGY IN THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRYBY JOHANNA RAMIREZ, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF MICROBIOLOGY, THE COCA-COLA COMPANYin myviewJohanna Ramirez
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