Dr Michael Mullan has been retired for several years but still continues to provide consultancy services on a pro bono basis if you have an interesting problem or project. These include:
- Independent validation of the antimicrobial effectiveness of the heat treatments used in processing.
- Calculation of the average holding time used in processing HTST and HHST products.
- Determination of the flow type and calculation of the minimum holding or residence time of the fastest flowing particles in HTST and HHST products.
- Determination of the F values and the number of logarithmic (log10) reductions of designated microorganisms following heat treatment.
- Advice on equivalent heat processes to meet legislative and other requirements.
- Benchmarking of company processes against statutory and international best practice.
- Advice on alternative methods to microbiological examination for providing additional assurance of adequate heat treatment e.g. the phosphatase test is of no value in providing assurance that a temperature >80°C was used in milk processing. Additional tests that confirm higher temperatures than e.g. normal milk-pasteurization temperatures can be provided. The merits of incorporating these into routine quality assurance testing will be explained.