Frequently Asked Questions

Evaluate effectiveness of sanitation program.

Survey sanitary state of equipment, facility, and environment to determine risk of wine spoilage microbe contamination.

Improve sanitation program which will lead to increased productivity efficiency, reduced business costs, and increased revenue.

Lead to improved quality and purity of wine products.

Troubleshoot source(s) of wine spoilage microbe contamination issue(s).

Traceability for a contamination issue following a product recall.

Compliance with Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements as they relate to wineries.

Winery Baseline/Survey/Vetting Audit – an initial assessment of winery’s sanitation practices and program to determine effectiveness of practices and identify hotspots of microbial contamination.

Winery Monitoring Audit – a follow-up assessment to verify effectiveness of sanitation program improvements and make sure sanitation program is working as designed.

Winery Troubleshooting Audit – an assessment conducted when a problem is detected to identify source of microbial contamination.

Conduct interview with winery personnel to determine scope of audit and/or perform a preliminary walk-through of winery.

Prepare proposal/quote describing services and cost to perform sanitation audit.

Conduct visual assessment of winery equipment and facility.

Conduct microbiological sampling survey of crush equipment, cellar equipment, bottling equipment, infrastructure, atmosphere, and/or water.

Review sanitation documentation (i.e. SSOPS, sanitation schedule, sanitation frequency, sanitation verification practices).

Assess sanitary design of equipment and infrastructure.
Prepare final report showing microbiological findings, identifying potential microbiological risks to product, and recommendations for improvement

Conduct interview with winery personnel to determine scope of audit.

Prepare proposal/quote describing services and cost to perform quality assurance audit.

Visually assess sanitation of crush area equipment and infrastructure.

Visually assess sanitation of cellar area equipment and infrastructure.

Visually assess sanitation of bottling area equipment and infrastructure.

Visually assess sanitation of buildings, facilities, and grounds.

Review sanitation documentation.

Assess sanitary design of equipment and infrastructure.

Assess wine filtration management program.

Assess analytical laboratory practices.

Assess microbiology laboratory practices.

Assess cGMP program.

Assess HACCP program.

The cost can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars depending on the size of the winery and the scope of sanitation audit.

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