American Society of Brewing ChemistsEventsWebinars

​​​​Should you risk it? Discussing the food safety risk of producing low and NA Beers  ​

​Broadcast Date: February 20, 2024 | 2:00 PM​ Central​

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Questions? Contact​ ASBC


Webinar Summary

​Breweries and beverage companies have recently been interested in creating innovative beer varieties that deviate from traditional beer styles, with either low-alcohol content <2.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) or the absence of alcohol altogether (<0.5% ABV). The potential change or absence of alcohol can render the final product susceptible to pathogen survival and growth. In this webinar, we will

  1. Go over Basic Food Safety & craft beverage industry needs
  2. Review the recently published “Survival of pathogens in low and NA craft beer”
  3. Offer food safety recommendations for producing a low and NA beer.

Whether you are interested in starting a craft beverage endeavor, or you are a Brewmaster, you don’t want to miss this this webinar.


​Presenters

​

Ann Charles Vegdahl
and
Mario Cobo
Cornell University​

​Ann Charles Vegdahl is Food Microbiologist with Ph.D. in Microbial Biology (Rutgers, 2017). She is currently an Extension Associate with the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. She oversees two major extension programs the Cornell Microbial Food Safety, Quality and Outreach Program, and the Cornell High Pressure Processing Validation Center at Cornell AgriTech. Dr. Charles Vegdahl and her team analyze over 500 products every year conducting microbial shelf life studies, pathogen validation studies for food manufacturers. She works closely with other researchers, government regulators, food processors. She is involved Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives in the department, campus wide and in Geneva, NY.


Mario is currently a PhD student under Dr. Randy Worobo studying the use of protective cultures in low-acid foods in conjunction with technologies such as High-Pressure Processing (HPP). Mario received his BSc from the University of Rochester in Molecular Genetics and then worked under Dr. Worobo for 3 years at his Cornell extension laboratory in Geneva, NY before starting his graduate studies. Mario has over 5-years of experience in applied food science and microbiology relevant to product shelf-life, food safety, microbial inactivation, HPP, and UV pasteurization among many.