Recently, the Hong Kong Food Safety Center reported that a frozen dessert sample from Mixue Ice City's Shatin store had a coliform content of 170 CFU/g and a total bacterial content of 75,000 CFU/g, exceeding the standard by 70% and 50%, respectively, which triggered public concerns about the food processing hygiene system. This incident underscores the crucial role of microbial control in ensuring food safety.
On the food raw material production side, companies represented by Xi'an App-Chem Bio (Tech) Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as "APPCHEM") are building the first line of defense through strict microbial quality control standards - its latest external inspection report in 2025 shows that the total colony count of stachyose products is only 15 CFU/g, which is far below the national standard upper limit (≤500 CFU/g) and meets the requirements of GB 4789.2-2022.
Microbial indicators are directly related to product safety. Once the total colony count or pathogenic bacteria exceeds the standard, it will cause food corruption at the least and cause health risks to consumers at the worst. According to the national standard GB 25532-2010 "Food Additive-Stachyose", the production process needs to complete the following major tests: microbial testing (total colony count, coliform grou,p and pathogenic bacteria), heavy metal residues (lead, mercury, etc.), purity determination (HPLC method), etc.
As a global leader in the industrial production of stachyose, APPCHEM has established a comprehensive quality control system covering production and testing.
- In terms of production environment control, the two major bases in Weinan and Tongchuan implement the ISO22000 food safety management system and FDA standards, the workshop air cleanliness reaches 100,000 levels, and the special safety treatment technology meets EU standards, which greatly improves the core competitiveness of the product.
- In terms of process innovation, the production plant adopts water extraction technology, without organic solvent residues, and the stachyose products produced are of excellent quality, complete specifications, and stable output. And with thousands of tons of large-scale continuous extraction technology, heavy metal and salt efficient removal technology, improve output rate, and ensure quality and safety.
According to the latest external inspection report in 2025, the total colony count of stachyose (15 CFU/g) of APPCHEM is less than 3% of the national standard limit, and no heavy metals are detected, which confirms the effectiveness of control.
APPCHEM's technological accumulation not only serves its production, but also promotes the upgrading of industry standards. APPCHEM not only led the formulation of the "International Business Standard for Stachyose", filling the gap in the industry, regulating the market order, and promoting the construction of a standard system for plant extracts; in 2025, it also reached a strategic cooperation with Sanzhuliang Group to promote the digital monitoring of the entire chain of "field-laboratory-market" to further reduce the risk of microbial contamination.
Safe food comes from "zero compromise" on the raw material side. APPCHEM's stachyose quality control practice proves how microbial management with prevention as the core can eliminate risks from the source - through technological innovation, the total colony count is suppressed to 1/30 of the national standard level, which not only provides safe raw materials for downstream companies, but also interprets the responsibility of enterprises under the "Healthy China" strategy.