PR 36998
12^thNovember 2015

Labcell supplies affordable Pawkit water activity meter to artisan charcuterie producer Capreolus for helping to ensure product safety

Labcell Ltd has supplied a Decagon Devices AquaLab Pawkit portable water activity meter to
Capreolus for measuring water activity in the company's range of charcuterie

Labcell Ltd has supplied a Decagon Devices AquaLab Pawkit portable water activity meter to Capreolus for measuring water activity in the company's broad range of cured, smoked and air-dried products made from port, mutton, venison, duck and beef - referred to collectively as charcuterie.  The Pawkit has made a significant difference to artisan producer Capreolus, with the owners now confident that the charcuterie is safe to store at ambient temperatures, whereas previously they had to rely on experience and periodically sending samples for slow and expensive laboratory analysis. 

Within the manufacture of charcuterie products in the UK, there is currently no obligation to test the water activity of samples, yet, if the safe limit is exceeded, there is a significant risk that microbial activity could pose a serious health risk to consumers.  Hundreds of years of experience have give the charcuterie industry a degree of confidence in the production processes, but there is a fear that inexperienced artisan producers  - and 'unlucky' experienced producers - could inadvertently place unsafe batches of charcuterie on the market.
  

Understandably there is now a move to introduce a set of Best Practice Guidelines for the production of charcuterie. While compliance with the guidelines will still not be mandatory, producers will need to comply or prove by some other means that their process is under control and their products are safe to eat if they are to avoid potentially damaging conflict with the local Environmental Health Department. This will be even more critical if the manufacturer is to get SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) recognition.

David Richards, one of the partners at Capreolus Fine Foods, is on a committee of the Guild of Fine Food that is sponsored bythe Bureau of Better Business Regulation. He comments: "After hundreds if not thousands of years of preserving meat, it is only within the last 30 years that we have really started to understand the chemical processes that take place to enable preserved meat products to be stored safely for long periods at ambient temperatures. Maintaining the end product's water activity below the acceptable limit does not guarantee that it is safe (for that you also need control over the prior processes), but it does ensure that ambient storage will not in itself make the product unsafe. Water activity is a key measurement for charcuterie producers, and far more reliable than experience and assessing how the product feels when it is squeezed in the hand!"

Previously Capreolus did rely on experience and periodic laboratory testing of batch samples but, having learned about water activity, David Richards became convinced of the benefits of measuring water activity and sought an instrument to purchase for testing his own products. Most water activity instruments were beyond his budget but fortunately he found the Pawkit, which was ideal for his purposes and about half the price of the nearest competitor instrument. Making a measurement is very quick, as the user just has to flip back the sensor cover, fit the Pawkit over a standard AquaLab sample cup and press a button; an accurate reading is ready within five minutes.

David Richards explains what he likes about the Pawkit, which is sold in the UK by Labcell: "As well as being accurate and having the right measurement range, it is very easy to use; you don't need to have any prior experience with laboratory instrumentation or be an expert in water activity, so a new user can be shown how to take readings in as little as five minutes. It is also simple to keep clean and robust enough to be used in a production environment. Sometimes we might use it several times a day, while at other times it might be several times per week, depending on the production schedule. Most importantly, we have those vital water activity measurements for our batch records to support every charcuterie product that we sell."

So far Capreolus has used the Pawkit for quality assurance of its existing charcuterie, but now David Richards is developing new smoked fish products, for which the Pawkit is likely to prove to be very useful indeed.

David Richards is delighted with the Pawkit, and he is also full of praise for Labcell: "Everyone at Labcell has been incredibly helpful; it is a terrific company with marvellous people for whom nothing is ever too much trouble. I would not hesitate to recommend Labcell to anyone who needs a water activity meter, whether for charcuterie or any other food product."

Labcell is the sole UK distributor for the AquaLab Pawkit portable water activity meter. Contact Labcell for more information or to request a demonstration by telephoning 01420 568150, emailingmail@labcell.comor go towww.labcell.com.

For further information on the Labcell range, please call 01420 568150, emailmail@labcell.comor go towww.labcell.com.

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Issued on behalf of:

Labcell Ltd 
Unit 3a Mansfield Park
Four Marks 
Alton
Hants, GU34 5PZ 
United Kingdom 
Tel: 01420 568150 
e-mail: mail@labcell.com
www.labcell.com

With compliments:
Taylor Alden Ltd
Unit 2, Temple Place
247 The Broadway
London
SW19 1SD
United Kingdom
Tel : 020 8543 3866