Germany uses microwave oven to kill bottle cork bacteria

Researchers at the Louis Vuitton Institute for Viticulture in Germany have used microwave ovens to kill bacteria in bottle stoppers, which is beneficial to the long-term preservation of famous wines.

Food experts believe that about 5% of the quality wines are mixed with cork, which greatly reduces the original taste. The unique smell of cork is produced by the fungus and microorganisms in the pores of the stopper. This doesn't matter if you don't plan to store your bottle for a long time, because in a matter of a few months, nothing will get into the bottle. However, for high-quality wines to be stored for decades, it will have an impact. Although the cork has been sterilized during packaging, the internal temperature of the wood does not exceed 50°C, which is far from killing various bacteria. Therefore, researchers at the Louis Dart Institute for Viticulture used microwave oven pasteurization. They installed a tunnel microwave oven with 70 generators on a wooden cork conveyor belt, which was then heat-sterilized and then used for bottle packaging. In this way, long-term storage of good-quality wines can be achieved without producing a cork odor.