According to a recent Cornell research, the absence of alcohol in nonalcoholic or low-alcohol beer, especially during production, storage, and pouring, may create an environment that is favourable for the proliferation of foodborne pathogens.

According to the researchers, the lack of physical barriers that microorganisms need to colonize the beverage might make these brews more vulnerable to germs and other spoiling issues.

“When you remove the alcohol, it’s really no longer a traditional beer,” said Randy Worobo, professor of food science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and senior author of “Survival of Foodborne Pathogens in Low and Nonalcoholic Craft Beer,” publishing December 2023 in the Journal of Food Protection. “We suspected that foodborne pathogens would be able to grow without the presence of alcohol. We were correct. At that point, you must consider nonalcoholic beer like food and make sure that all parameters are met guaranteeing product safety.”

Mario Çobo, a doctoral student, carried out the investigation at Worobo’s lab.

Traditional beers, which have an alcohol content of up to 10% by volume, have a low pH, ethanol is present, hops give acid, and they retain little oxygen, all of which support microbiological stability. According to the report, natural pasteurization, filtration, and cold storage for beer wort boiling—the watery grain simmer that initiates the brewing process—also contribute to pathogen protection.

Read the full story HERE, written by Blaine Friedlander

SOURCE: Cornell Chronicle
PHOTO CREDIT: File