Monitoring the Microbial Conditions in Breweries in Yangtze River Delta Region, China

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to investigate the contamination degree and quality control of seven breweries from the Yangtze River Delta region, China. A total of 205 spoilage bacteria strains were isolated and no wild yeast was observed. The vast majority of the spoilage bacteria belonged to Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Leuconostoc species and 28.8% of them could grow in beer. Among the seven sampling points, fermented beer, finished beer, and equipment contained larger amounts of spoilage bacteria. The most abundant of the spoilage bacteria that could grow in beer existed in fermented beer and the number of spoilage bacteria was significantly reduced in the finished beer. The equipment in fermentation and packaging workshops showed high percentages of spoilage bacteria that could grow in beer. This indicated that more attention should be paid in controlling the spoilage bacteria in the fermentation and packaging processes. The hop tolerance related gene analysis showed that the majority of spoilage bacteria contained at least one of the HorA, HorC and HitA genes. None of these genes were observed in the two spoilage bacteria strains that could grow in the beer. This information could be useful for breweries in the Yangtze River Delta region for removing risks in order to produce high-quality products in good microbial condition.