Through these short conversations, we try to understand what our customers think about us. Today, we are going to France to meet M. Lwidgi Lugros, who works as Head of Laboratories at the Centre Technique de la Conservation des Produits Agroalimentaire (CTCPA) <EN: Technical Center for the Preservation of Agri-Food Products> in Avignon, France. The CTCPA is an industrial technical center dedicated to the agri food industry, whose activities focus on two main areas: private services and research activities.

1. Could you explain what the activities of the CTCPA consists of?

The Technical Center offers private services such as research and development, training, consultancy and personalized support for agri-food manufacturers. The second focus of the Technical Center’s work is research activities/projects for the various industries we support on a daily basis. It’s worth noting that all the canning, dehydrating and frozen food industries pay a tax which is passed on to us, and in return we use this money to undertake collaborative research projects. This covers a wide range of subjects, from process improvement and food safety to method development, etc.

The CTCPA is spread over 7 sites, with its head office based in Paris. Each site has a technology department, our Bourg en Bresse site has a packaging department, and the Avignon site where I work also has a microbiology and food quality laboratory. There are 35 of us working at the Avignon site, and the CTCPA as a whole is made up of around a hundred employees.

2. Why is there a need for cold storage in your business?

As part of our support activities, we use refrigeration/freezing equipment to store strains. We isolate wild strains from altered products. For example, if non-stability is identified in the agri-food sector (e.g.: a can that swells), the manufacturer sends us a sample so that we can carry out a microbiological assessment to determine the origin of the non-stability. The cause may be microbial, linked to a product treatment problem, a process problem, etc. When the origin is microbial, we isolate the strain. This is part of a research project we’ve been running for over 20 years, the aim of which is to create a “Library of strain”. Once the analysis has been carried out, we send a report to the manufacturer, proposing areas for improvement. We support the manufacturer in managing his problem.

3. Which products did you buy from B Medical Systems? For which purpose?

We have two ultra-low temperature freezers, model U201, at our Avignon site, which we use to store strains. The strains may be bacterial alteration or pathogenic bacteria, fungi, molds or yeasts. We have nearly 8,000 strains that we store for several years. Some strains have been with us for over 15 years. Our strains are collected in vials which are then stored in cryoboxes.

4. What are the features that you liked the most? Could you please talk about the performance of the devices?

I really like the design and the floor space. These are high-performance, easy-to-use machines. Your local partner, G3 Concepts gave us a training session when the machines arrived, and the general feedback from my technicians and colleagues has been very positive. I particularly appreciated the business relationship with your partner. We were accompanied from A to Z, the agent was very present and showed a
very good knowledge of the technical aspects.

5. How are you using B Medical Systems’ products and how do they benefit your institution?

We have two machines so that we can divide our strains into two: bacteria in one and yeasts/molds in the other. This avoids problems of cross-contamination and reduces the loss of value in the event of equipment failure. We mainly have wild strains, but we also have a few collection strains that we order from specialized banks and which are very valuable. We had another ultra-low-temperature freezer from another brand, but we heard about your appliances by word of mouth. Your products matched our budget and specifications in terms of design, floor space, capacity, performance and energy consumption. The unit is opened between 1 and 15 times a day for a few seconds. Our strains are all labelled to quickly identify where they are located. We’ve also added a probe to the unit for continuous temperature monitoring.

6. Have you found in B Medical Systems a trustworthy partner?

Yes, we do.

7. How did you learn about B Medical Systems?

By word of mouth.

8. How long have you been a B Medical Systems customer?

Since 2021. The first unit was delivered at the end of the last quarter of 2021.

9. Are you satisfied with the equipment?

We’re satisfied with the experience we’ve had so far. The model meets our expectations. No negative points to raise so far.

10. Would you recommend B Medical Systems?

Of course I would.

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