Lab
About
VBact has developed a novel technology for real-time and automated detection and enumeration of bacteria in water. As a complement solution to food & beverage producers need, VBact has developed a system for ultra-rapid monitoring of specific water samples. For example, testing bottled water immediately after production. This system configuration provides bacterial enumeration in as early as 10 minutes per sample or bottle.
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The Lab Bacterial Water Scanner has small footprint and flexibility to sample bottles without any special preparation or infrastructure. Food and beverage producers and any water supplier can use the system for various needs. These include:
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Routine batch screening
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Testing specific suspected samples
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Re-testing of samples
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Monitoring of finished products directly from production lines
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Monitoring various sampling points and production equipment in the plant
The Challenge
A mineral water plant, considered its water source naturally clean. Yet, bacterial contaminations appear from time to time in its finished products. The plant assumes that several specific bottle filler machines are responsible for the contamination. Therefore, a need for a solution that will closely monitor specific finished bottles rapidly, routinely, randomly and following irregular events was raised. Currently, bacterial monitoring is only done manually, and the beverage producer do not have timely bacterial data on the cleanliness status of all the filling systems.
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Another challenge is not to increase the lab workload with extra cumbersome testing of the final products, and to get the results in a simple and clear format. It will allow the plant to further analyze the results and if necessary take immediate corrective actions.
Goals
Goals
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Provide ultra-rapid bacterial enumeration of selected final product bottles
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Conduct the analysis in a simple automated process
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Present a clear quantitative result table with all accumulated daily test results. Send in clear digital format all daily results to the laboratory personal
The Solution
The beverage plant has placed the Lab Bacterial Water Scanner inside a hood at the plant laboratory and asked two senior lab operators to conduct analysis of suspected and random water bottles.
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An easy to use “push button” operating screen was developed and implemented at the Lab. Analysis duration was determined to 10 or 20 minutes per bottle. The operator just needed to insert the system inlet and outlet tubes into the tested bottle, and push the “test start” icon. From that point the operator was free for other laboratory tasks. Once the analysis ended the result appeared on the system screen.
At the end of each day a table log file, with all the test details and results, was send to the operators. The lab used the Lab Scanner for re-testing ambiguous results, monitor the cleanliness of various production lines and for fast routine analysis of bottled water produced at the same day. Validation tasks and suspected vulnerabilities were preformed and completed rapidly.
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Today the analysis of a sample in the Lab Scanner takes 5 minutes.