What is CarboTect™?

Carbotect™ is a simple colour based test to detect organic compounds in equipment in the high risk, food, beverage, water and pharma industries.
It also detects ultra-low levels of organic materials associated with microbial bio-fouling present in factory water systems.
It also detects oxidizing sanitizers used for the cleaning of equipment after incomplete rinsing.

The test is simple. Collect a sample of the final rinse water following cleaning, add the Carbotect™ reagent powder to the 100ml sample bottle as supplied and wait 5 minutes for the resulting colour reaction.
The colour change is measured against the colour chart or a reference standard prepared with distilled water.

Carbotect™ offers a rapid and reliable test of the sanitary effectiveness of the CIP procedure and a semi-quantitative measure of the degree of contamination that may remain in the system.

Carbotect™ can be used to identify and isolate sources of contamination i.e. dead-legs etc., as well as to detail aspects of non-hygienic engineering design in the plant infrastructure.

Industry sectors where Carbotect™ will add immense value:

• All beverage production and packaging facilities – all soft drinks, fruit juices, ice tea & coffee, flavoured waters, breweries, vineyards, dairies etc.
• All food processing facilities – processed and perishable foods, ice-cream, ready-to-eat products, prepared sauces and condiments etc.
• Pharmaceutical plants – Powders, tablets, syrups and other liquid based formulations etc.
• Bulk water facilities – municipalities, water treatment plants at food, beverage and pharma facilities etc.
• Hospitality industry – Point-of-use beverage dispensers – draft beer, soft drink fountains etc.

BIOFILM

Biofilm is present in processing equipment and piping systems which supply water to the production plant.
Microbes in bulk water systems live in biofilms or slime layers which coat the surfaces of tanks, reservoirs and supply pipes. This slime layer is an accumulation of organic compounds which supports new microbial growth.

The Carbotect™ test is reliably sensitive for detecting the low levels of these organic microbial compounds and is an indicator of microbial contaminants in bulk water systems. In addition, the colour reagent is also sensitive to the presence of proteins and their building blocks – peptides, as well as unrelated polysaccharide compounds such as cellulose and dissolved organic compounds.