The Effect of C02, Sugar, Acid, and Preservat...

The Effect of C02, Sugar, Acid, and Preservative on the Survival of Organisms

Author Name : Apoorva Chandra

INTRODUCTION Soft drinks are enormously popular beverages consisting primarily of carbonated water, sugar, and flavorings. Nearly 200 nations enjoy the sweet, sparkling soda with an annual consumption of more than 34 billion gallons (Martin, 2007).Soft drinks and fruit juices represent an important market within the food industry. The increasing variety of products being released at a bewildering rate has altered the potential for spoilage problems. Soft drinks are generally nutrientpoor media that are spoiled by relatively few organisms – usually yeasts, and a few acid-tolerant bacteria and fungi. Carbonation shifts the spoilage flora to those organisms tolerant of carbon dioxide. Soft drinks enhanced by the addition of low levels of fruit juice tend to exhibit similar spoilage flora to fruit juices. The use of ever more exotic raw ingredients may lead to the discovery of unusual spoilage organisms in the future. Yeasts in general, and Zygosaccharomyces bailii in particular, remain the key spoilage organisms because of their overall physiology and resistance to organic acid preservatives (Stratford et al., 2000).During the past ten years considerable changes have occurred in the global beverage market. Functional beverages and bottled waters currently constitute the fastest growing sectors. Energy drinks, tooth-friendly beverages, and nonalcoholic malt beverages are also gaining popularity. Recent changes in the product formulation, processing and packaging technologies, transport and trade could expose beverage production to new microbiological risks that require identification in order to maintain acceptable microbiological stability and safety in the future. Moreover, changes in the global climate may have serious impacts on the microbiological quality of foods and beverages. More rigorous control of beverage ingredient quality will be emphasized. This literature review aims at providing state-of-the-art knowledge on microbiological quality and safety risks in non-beer beverages produced in a brewery environment, with special emphasis on functional and specialty beverages.