Food, Beverage or Manufacturing Contamination

Working in conjunction with a medical device production company, we identified several species of a rare, newly-described, bacterial genus with a unique ecological niche. These extremophiles made homes for themselves where other bacteria would simply die. We developed techniques to isolate them and then validated their ability to survive and thrive in osmotically and pH stressed conditions absent from organic nutrients. Only after properly characterizing the contaminant was the company able to solve and move on from the recurring contamination problem. At Sporometrics, we will solve your process contamination problem and have you back to normal production as soon as possible. Learn More >

Pasteurization is a commonly used process to kill off a wide variety of organisms. Occasionally, thermotolerant organisms will survive the process and cause spoilage of the end product. Sporometrics investigated one such case of recurring spoilage and found that the thermotolerant organism Byssochlamys had colonized certain parts of the production line. A chemical disinfection was recommended and the problem was solved.

Sporometrics worked closely with a manufacturer of medical equipment to implement a rapid turnaround monitoring program to identify at-risk devices before going into service. Using qPCR methods provided results in days instead of weeks (with the traditional culture method). Sporometrics deployed a qPCR method to detect the genus Mycobacterium and recently validated qPCR method to detect M. chimaera, the species implicated in the at-risk devices. Hospitals across Canada, soon followed suit and recruited our help to surveil their Heater-Cooler devices. Learn More>