The deterioration of a food or beverage product due to microbial growth, enzymatic action, or chemical oxidation. In processing plants and breweries, spoilage manifests as off-flavors, souring, haze, or blown packaging. Preventing spoilage requires strict sanitation, temperature control, and proper packaging to keep wild bacteria and oxygen out of the finished product.
Heard on the job
We had a cooling failure on tank four over the weekend, and the lab just confirmed lactic acid spoilage.
Insider tip
While restaurant workers might use spoilage as slang for edible mistakes they get to eat, in a production facility, spoilage means a total loss of product that must be dumped.