BCN Labs staffs expert sanitarians and consultants that are familiar with food processing, HACCP and sanitation programs.  They not only solve problems related to your processing but also design the right sanitation program for your company needs.

BCN Labs can conduct on-site sanitation audits by trained microbiologists. These audits can include:

Environmental sampling
Samples are taken from processing equipment, food and non-food contact areas.  Swabs are used to determine the microbial contamination per area swabbed and sponges are used to determine presence or absence of pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella sp., E. coli 0157/H7, etc.  Monitoring microbial contamination may be testing for a sanitation indicator microorganism such as total aerobic count and total coliforms or for spoilage target microorganisms such as yeast, preservative resistant yeasts, molds, heat-resistant molds, lactic acid bacteria, Alicyclobacillus, etc.

Assessment of sanitation program
Cleaning and sanitation procedures are reviewed and observed by trained personnel to determine the adequacy and efficacy of the sanitation plan.  Emphasis is placed on the prevention of product contamination or spoilage.

Sanitation SOPs (SSOP) validation
BCN Labs can help with the validation and verification of your sanitation SOPs (SSOP).  Deviations from the plan and needed modifications will be reported.  

Sanitizer efficacy validation
Using the right sanitizer is very important for the sanitation program to be effective.  BCN Labs can conduct a sanitizer efficacy test against the target microorganisms to determine if if is the adequate sanitizer against these microorganisms.  This is quite crucial in industries such as the beverage industry were yeasts and molds are the main spoilage microorganisms.  Not all sanitizers work against mold spores and even among sanitizers that do, some brand-name products work better than others.

Assessment of air quality audits
The number of molds in the air inside the processing areas in industries such as the beverage industry were their products are spoiled mainly by molds is essential to prevent product spoilage.  BCN Labs mycologists can detect and identify target molds such as heat-resistant molds and determine the need for corrective action to prevent or reduce product spoilage.