Mobile application to prevent microbial contaminations on wines and concentrated grape juices

ROJO M.C.; STURM M.E.; GONZALEZ M.L.; CHIMENO V.; MERCADO L. A.; COMBINA M.

Logroño

Congreso; International Congress on Grapevine and Wine Sciences (ICGWS); 2018

Institute of Grapevine and Wine Sciences (ICVV)

The wine industry is an important economic activity for Argentina, being wines and concentrated grape juices the most important ones. Both products could be spoiled by yeasts. Dekkera bruxellensis is associated with phenolic flavours that have a negative impact on the organoleptic characteristics of wines, whereas Zygosaccharomyces rouxii is the most frequent spoilage microorganism in concentrated grape juices. The prevention of contamination is the best way to avoid microbial problems and maintain the quality of the products. Two mathematical models of prediction of D. bruxellensis in wines and Z. rouxii in concentrated grape juice were developed in our Laboratory (Sturm et al. 2014; Rojo et al. 2014). The predictive models were constructed considering the variables of the food that could be measured and modified in the industry, such as pH, concentration of ethanol and SO2 in wines; and pH and concentration of sugars in the concentrated grape juices. The predictive models developed allow knowing which combinations of these variables may be inhibitory for the growth of the spoilage yeasts and estimate the shelf-life of the product under the storage (isothermal) and shipping (non-isothermal) temperature conditions. In an effort to provide useful and practical tools with easily access to winemakers and producers, mobile applications were developed. The use of these Apps will contribute to the reduction of defects and alterations in the wines and juices of concentrated grapes avoiding rejections in exported items resulting in a reduction of economic losses associated with these problems.