Cherney Microbiological Services, LTD Expands to Baraboo!

Cherney purchases Foremost Farms Office building!

BARABOO, Wis. (April 16, 2021) – Cherney Microbiological Services, headquartered in Green Bay, WI announced today that they have purchased the Foremost Farms Headquarters building. There is a long-term partnership between the two organizations with Cherney providing high quality services to Foremost Farms for over a decade. This purchase will enable Cherney’s expansion and continued growth by taking over operations of the milk testing and microbiology laboratory located within the building. Foremost Farms will remain a tenant in the building, which they have occupied for 26 years.

A Tip Before You Ship: Environmental Testing!

Environmental Testing

Be in the know, before it goes!

It is important while crafting your Environmental Monitoring Program to consider getting a good representative picture of your production environment. In this blog we’ll be covering areas to target and proper swabs to help you along the way as well as tips for shipping/submitting swabs to your lab.

Your environmental monitoring program shouldn’t only consist of the “easy” areas, they should be monitoring the nooks and crannies, the tough spots to clean because that’s where the bacteria like to hang out. Your environmental program’s goal shouldn’t be to swab areas that won’t have positives, but should rather focus on a “seek out and destroy” technique.

A Tip Before You Ship: Product Testing!

Product Testing

What you need to know, before it goes!

There are many things to consider when you are preparing samples to be sent out to your lab, you’re probably planning out when you’ll send your samples, considering lab test turnaround times, and when you can release and ship your product because time is money, right?! But even before all of that, first and foremost you must consider getting a representative sample to send out to the lab. This largely applies to product sampling but a representative sample is also applicable and important during environmental swabbing too. This blog will be centered on product sampling, representative portions and proper sample collection. Check back in for the next installment, regarding environmental swabbing and environmental swab submission to your lab.

What IS that? - It's a Biofilm!

Ew, what’s that sticky, slimy residue?

Biofilms are a major factor in pathogen persistence within a food production environment. Biofilms can cause bacterial contamination of food and secondary contamination of food contact surfaces. Common microorganisms that form biofilms, (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Listeria, Salmonella, etc) all pose serious food safety risks if they are present in your food processing environment.

Let's Talk About It: E.coli & Staph

It's time for our final subject in our series "Let's Talk About It"

(aaawwwwwwwwwww!)

I know, I know...

It’s sad to reach the end of the series, but don’t worry... there are more informative and educational blogs on the way! Today’s topics are bacterial organisms that you are probably fairly familiar with but before we get into the specific organisms, let’s talk a little bit about toxins.

Let's Talk About It: Coliform & Enterobacteriaceae!

Did you hear about the famous microbiologist who visited 30 different countries and spoke 6 languages?

He was a man of many cultures!

And speaking of many cultures, let’s talk about the wide world of indicator organisms!

An indicator organism is a certain bacteria or group of bacteria that are not necessarily harmful themselves but can indicate that the conditions are prime for a harmful pathogen to be present. Indicator organism(s) can be a broad group of bacteria (E.g. Enterobacteriaceae) or it could be a specific species of bacteria (E.g. Staphylococcus epidermidis) depending on what pathogen you’re concerned with. Testing for indicator organisms can also be used to assess efficacy of cleaning and sanitation programs within your plant or during troubleshooting product issues to quantify spoilage organisms present.

Let's Talk About It: Salmonella!

What happens when you put nutella on Salmon?

You get Salmonella!

...but seriously, lets talk about Salmonella!

Let's Talk About It: Listeria!

Why are bacteria so bad at math?

It’s because they multiply by dividing!

But honestly, bacterial growth is no joke! Under optimum conditions bacteria divide every twenty minutes. Just one cell can become sixteen million in one eight hour shift! It’s no wonder why cleaning and sanitation within production plants are vital to ensuring a quality product.

Best Sample - Best Results: How to use Environmental Results

As a customer, what do you do with your environmental results? Many of you have your own processes and quality procedures but are you using your results to effectively ensure your sanitation is working?

Best Sample - Best Result: Shipping Samples

You might ask yourself “How does shipping play into Best Sample – Best Result”? Let me answer that for you… a lot! To be honest, shipping is one of the most important things to do correctly. It is where all of your testing starts (besides the initial sampling process).

Cherney Blog: Inside The Petridish