FOOD SAFETY IN THE BREWERY

In case you’ve forgotten, this was the nationwide outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes that caused food poisoning from contaminated processed meats and lead to the untimely deaths of just over 200 people.

At the time, some people joked on social media that the contamination had also been picked up at one of the big brewing companies. As brewers we all knew this was untrue because beer has intrinsic antimicrobial properties (presence of alcohol, CO2 and hops, low pH levels and an absence of oxygen) that protect against the growth of pathogens.