Laboratory Testing Blogs | Grand Rapids Laboratory
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Balancing Hops, Alpha & Beta Acids
Understanding hops is no easy task. There is a lot of "science" that goes into the hops that makeup your beer. Having general knowledge of alpha and beta acids is critical to perfecting the balance of your brew. Read more about balancing hops with alpha & beta acids →
Preventing Mold & Mildew In Boats
Mold and mildew thrive well in a damp and moist environment, they produce horrid odor, and they can cause disintegration of the interior materials of the boat. They are more difficult to control than prevented, and keeping your boat out of water does little at keeping them at bay. Read more about preventing mold in boats →
Water Testing In Produce Safety
Water testing plays an important, but overlooked role in terms of importance in produce safety. It is not only essential in the growth of crops, but also in the processing. Water is used in the cooling of produce, removal of debris, decontamination, washing of equipment, and personal hygiene. Read more about water testing in produce safety →
Rapid Bacterial Testing
The term ‘food poisoning' entails a stretch of food-borne diseases caused by an evenly wide range of microorganisms. Most cases of food poisoning recorded are caused by bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter, or by viruses. Read more about rapid bacterial testing →
Determining Your Wine's Alcohol Content
This type of testing isn’t guaranteed for a pledge safety conclusion and a lot of the time, it’s thought of as an extravagant practice because of all the testing steps involved, procedural elements that go into the research and wasted vegetables. Read more about determining your wine's alcohol content →
Microbial Testing of Fresh Plants
This type of testing isn’t guaranteed for a pledge safety conclusion and a lot of the time, it’s thought of as an extravagant practice because of all the testing steps involved, procedural elements that go into the research and wasted vegetables. Read more about microbial testing of fresh plants →
How to Chlorinate Your Well
Chlorinating your well is imperative to removing and maintaining an absence of bacteria in your water, especially coliform bacteria. Coliform bacteria can be the catalyst for disease causing bacteria, viruses and other parasites. Read more about how to chlorinate your well →
What Exactly is Malt?
People do not realize the ingredients and actual process of making different alcoholic beverages. We are going to go over some basic techniques on what exactly malt is and how that specific ingredient plays in the role of making alcohol. Read more about malt and beer and alcohol testing →
Pesticide Residue Testing
There are regulations with pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, which allows, “the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the sale and use of pesticides to preserve our environment and protect our health.” Their pesticide residue testing includes its toxicity and the ecological impact it can have, for better or for worse. This involves products from domestic and international farms. Read more about pesticide residue testing →
Taking A Water Sample
In a state where water may be contaminated, it must be sampled and sent to a water testing lab to ensure safety. The process of taking water samples is easy for anyone to do and helps professionals in determining how contaminated the water may be. Follow the procedures and send them to a water analysis lab. Read more about taking a water sample for testing →
Forage Quality Testing
In the past, forage quality testing required great lengths of time, it now can happen in less than a day. The production of animals can be increased by monitoring nutrition through forage testing, allowing higher quality product and higher profits. Read more about forage quality testing →
Shock Well Disinfection
In order to tell if water wells have been contaminated, contamination testing must be performed. The EPA states that testing should be checked yearly, in order to catch serious contaminations before they develop further. Read more about shock well disinfection →
Calculating Manure Nutrients
Manure may be a gross topic for you to think about, but is one of high importance. You likely know that this is organic matter that is primarily made up of animal feces with the exception of green manure. Green manure is often used as organic fertilizer. The reason that manure is so beneficial to agriculture is because it contributes to the fertility of the soil through adding valuable nutrients and organic matter into the soil. Read more about calculating manure nutrients →
Raw Milk Testing In Michigan
A long time ago, the pasteurization process was created in order to make milk safer. As a result, many people know little about raw milk and the benefits that it may offer. Is there a risk for drinking raw milk or are there a great deal of benefits that we do not know about? There has been extensive food testing to understand the safety of drinking raw milk. Read more about raw milk testing →
HACCP Food Safety Faq's
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point is a system that has been set up and agreed at a federal level to manage food safety within restaurants and food service units. In the United States, HACCP controls meat, poultry, seafood and juice production while HARPC is used for all other food products and production. Read more about HACCP food safety FAQ's →
USDA Food Handling Basics
Most people are under the impression that if food is past its due date it will appear slimy and smell or have an unusual taste. However, that is not the case as none of these things are true of the harmful bacteria that can cause illness. Read more about USDA food handling basics →
Shelf Life Studies
There are a wide variety of foods on the shelves of our supermarket. And we all know they have a date on them that limits its consumption and if you consume that food beyond that time limit, your health may be affected. Read more about shelf life studies →
Employee Food Safety Training
The number one priority of a food processing facility should be the public health, no matter how large or small the organization is. You are not simply talking about numbers when you have to deal with recalls. You're talking about people getting sick and potentially dying because necessary precautions were not taken. And when a company deals with this, it's very difficult to get their reputation back, if it's even possible. Read more about food safety training →
Rapid DNA Extraction Methods For Food Testing
There are several rapid DNA extraction methods of for food testing which target E. coli 0157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica and Aeromonasydrophila. Some methods are more complicated and call for more steps than others, while others are simple and more affordable. Read more about rapid DNA extraction methods →
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Microbiology