The IFU (International Fruit and Vegetable Juice Association) has, once again, awarded one company from the juice industry and one person for his long standing active support of the juice industry: Tetra Pak received the “IFU Award for Innovation” for their production concept solution combining UV and filtration technology, Mr. Hans Jürgen Hofsommer received the “IFU Award for Significant Contribution”. Both awards were presented during this years` Juice Summit Gala Dinner in Antwerp, Belgium.

Mr. Hans Jürgen Hofsommer is the founder of GfL laboratory in Berlin, dedicated to serving the juice industry with expert analysis. He has been a long standing member and supporter of IFU being the Methods of Analysis (MAC) chair in the 1980’s and 1990’s developing the extensive catalogue of IFU methods of analysis. He truly is a dedicated contributor to the juice industry.

Maria Norlin accepted the award on behalf of Tetra Pak and gave the worlds` first presentation on this technology combining UV and filtration at the IFU Technical Workshop in Athens earlier this year.

Maria Norlin has worked at Tetra Pak Processing Systems since 2008 across different areas of expertise, such as technical product management within Mixing, Blending, Dosing, as well as product management within Heating.

Maria is currently leading a team of food technologists and product managers responsible for developing and managing the Tetra Pak JNSD Processing Portfolio and technology expertise. She has a Master of Science in Chemical Biology, with a focus on Bioprocess Engineering from Linköpings University, Institute of Technology in Sweden.

Tetra Pak`s technology utilises sterile filtration in conjunction with heat processing for juice, nectar and still drinks which reduces energy consumption by 2/3rds.

Currently, the method No. 12 – revision 2019 of the International Fruit and Vegetable Juice Association (IFU) is the accepted worldwide reference method for the detection of Alicyclobacillus spp. However, the verification of Alicyclobacillus in the lab is relatively time-consuming. In case of enrichment the results are available at the earliest after 10 days, but usually after almost two weeks.

An alternative method is the Soleris^® ACB-109 (Neogen Corporation) which offers faster results which are just as reliable. This has been verified by a validation according ISO 16140-2:2016 (comparison of alternative against reference methods).

Via a two step enrichment of a 10 g sample, Alicyclobacillus can be detected already within two to four days using the Soleris ACB-system. For this purpose the sample is enriched for 2 days in BAT bouillon according to IFU No. 12 and afterwards transferred to the Soleris-Vial. To eliminate false positive results a molecular-biological rapid PCR test by Milenia Biotec GmbH will be used, directly out of the Soleris-Vial.

Positive or negative – all important parameters for the evaluation of the sample are promptly provided:

The Soleris ACB-system together with the PCR confirmation delivers the results quicker than the IFU No. 12 and is a reliable method for the qualitative verification of Alicyclobacillus spp. in fruit juices and concentrates.

In case of urgent Alicyclobacillus investigations the GfL Gesellschaft für Lebensmittel-Forschung mbH recommend the analysis by Soleris^® ACB and Milenia^® GenLine.