Microbiological contamination in brewing process: a case study in breweries in Rio de Janeiro

The brewing process and the characteristics of the final products make the beverages produced microbiologically stable. However, in some cases, spoilage microorganisms of this product can grow. To detect points of importance for microbiological contamination in breweries, conventional methods of detecting aerobic microorganisms were used and environmental samples were collected from two microbreweries ( designated Brewery A and Brewery B) in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The results indicated contaminations in some points of the industries, especially in the outlet valves of the product tanks, in which it was possible to identify bacteria such as Bacillus megaterium, Staphylococcus hominis and Providencia alcalifaciens and wild yeasts such as Candida krusei, C. parapsilosis and C. guilliermondii that can cause deterioration and reduction of the quality of the final product.