A new approach was necessary because of a change in function for beverage crates, having shifted from a simple assemblage for food packaging to an advertising vehicle in the brewing industry.

Enormous investments were made in converting the crate pool, in expensive sorting plants for empties and setting up new (distribution)/logistics systems in order to increase market share. For marketing reasons, mainly bright colours, together with elaborate multi-colour prints, oftentimes supplemented with metallic effects, have been selected for dedicated crates. These form a dramatic contrast to the hitherto conventional solid ox-blood red Euro crates. After a few cycles, the exclusive appearance suffers, it has to be able to survive the harsh every-day environment of beverage crates.g....

Apart from thermal processes for preservation of food, various chemical agents are used for cleaning and disinfection of plant and equipment. Studies have shown that Anti-Keim® 50 has proved to be a suitable means of achieving good hygiene.

Microbially induced spoilage of food is caused mainly by bacteria and fungi (1). In terms of metabolic physiology, they are very versatile and are thus able to metabolise practically all natural substances. Accordingly, beer and sugar-containing non-alcoholic beverages provide optimum living conditions for growth and propagation of micro-organisms so that very good hygiene is an essential prerequisite for assuring microbiological quality of products and a long shelf-life. 1). It is highly effective even at low concentrations.
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Monobromoacetic acid (MBA) is a disinfectant which for various reasons has continued to lose ground on the market in recent years. Many breweries have meantime switched to other disinfectants, peroxidic substances have in the main become well established. The State Institute for Research and Testing of Brewery Equipment of the Technical University Munich-Weihenstephan has investigated MBA from an ecological standpoint.

For many years, Hallertauer Hopfenveredelungsgesellschaft has been carrying out residue checks, commissioned by the merchant companies Steiner, Lupofresh and Horst Company. As there have recently been press reports on "Pesticides in Beer", we are taking this opportunity to describe some results relating to the 1997 hop harvest.

An evaluation of ecological impact of cleaning agents and disinfectants has to include chain lubricants and their individual components. Some of these agents have good microbicidal action so as to ensure hygiene on conveyer belts. The extent to which they - and a number of other cleaning agents and disinfectants - have an influence on degradability in waste water and whether they themselves are biodegradable has been investigated at the State Institute for Research and Testing of Brewing Technology in Weihenstephan.

Test methods used have been described in "Ecological aspects of cleaning and disinfection, Part 1: Monobromoacetic acid" (see "Brauwelt International" no. VI, 1999, p. 508). They were displaced by amine-based agents.
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The present article deals with implementation of the HACCP concept. Use of chlorine dioxide makes disinfection operations more transparent and reduces running costs.

In recent decades, complicated technologies, in particular aimed at improving quality, have been introduced in various areas of the beverage and food industries. Even prior to efforts at harmonisation under EC Directives, one was certainly aware of health as well as economic implications of microbial product contamination. As a result, hygiene specifications were drawn up for all production steps.

Chlorine dioxide is a disinfectant which can be produced cheaply as needed from commercial chemicals on site.g. disinfection in the cold water zone of a bottle washer.
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In this second part, the presence of organic complexing agents in brewery effluent, their degradability as well as possible inhibiting effects are investigated.

EDTA and NTA organic complexing agents are used for cleaning purposes in breweries to prevent precipitation of calcium and magnesium hardness in an alkaline environment. They have a chelating effect on calcium and magnesium ions which are thus withdrawn from the system and cannot react with the precipitating counterions. Typical points of use are specially formulated cleaning agents, additives for lye cleaning and conveyor lubricants.

It is said to attack concrete, can lead to a species shift in water bodies, remobilises heavy metals and contributes to eutrophication of water bodies. 508).
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The brewing and beverage industries are having to fulfil increasingly stringent requirements in terms of product safety, and also improve quality, efficiency and profitability. Production has to be flexible and efficient and be in a position to empty and refill tanks quickly and unproblematically with minimal effort. This gives a pivotal role to automatic cleaning of tanks and equipment.

Cleaning procedures in the brewing and beverage industries are usually automated to the greatest possible extent. Nevertheless, a large number of tanks and vessels are still cleaned with less efficient methods. The current most wide-spread method of vessel cleaning is with static spray balls. Increasingly, rotating spray heads are being installed.
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Hugo Powell, the veteran marketer behind Labatt’s Ice Beer and recently elected President and Chief Executive of Interbrew SA, believes that the explosive growth of the Internet - it already has a 39 per cent penetration in U.S. homes and is expected to rise to 61 per cent in five years - will further the market fragmentation that has become the marketer’s nightmare. What makes matters worse is that the Internet users are disproportionately the younger, well-educated and wealthy groups that advertisers are trying to reach via mature media such as television. "Television for these people is Internet", Mr Powell declared.