Andrzej Benkowski
Technical Manager, Probiotics & Dietary Supplements
As the Technical Manager at Eurofins Center of Excellence for Probiotics, Andrzej Benkowski brings over 18 years of expertise in biotics quality management, testing, and technology. With a strong technical background in food microbiology, Andrzej specializes in contract R&D, method development, and pioneering technologies for probiotic evaluation.
Since 2019, Andrzej has chaired the International Probiotic Association (IPA) Technical Committee and has been a member of the IPA Board of Directors since early 2024. He also contributes to the IPA Postbiotics Committee and has served as the IPA expert liaison with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) TC34/SC9 Working Group 11 since 2022, co-convening their Enumeration Subgroup.
Andrzej is dedicated to advancing the biotics industry by setting rigorous standards and driving innovation with a focus on quality.
Outside of his professional and scientific achievements, Andrzej is a member of the Eurofins Madison Site Employee Engagement Team and manages the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program for the site. A founding member of the funk band Steez, he also plays saxophone, synthesizers, and vocals. Andrzej enjoys the outdoors, spending time with his family, and pretending to be a coffee aficionado. Additionally, he has a passion for collecting sneakers and fitted hats.
Below are resources from Andrzej:
This webinar outlines the concept, design and execution of appropriate validation strategies and procedures intended to mitigate microbiological hazards in Low-Water Activity Foods. In the context of FDA regulations, low-water activity foods (LWAF) are those products with a water activity (aw) of less than 0.85. For many decades, these products were believed to present a low microbiological hazard risk. Various food related illness outbreaks, starting with a massive outbreak of salmonellosis due to peanut butter consumption in 2008-2009, raised awareness of the risk resulting from extended survival of pathogens in these products even in the absence of active growth. Original airdate August 23, 2022.
High-Pressure Processing is a food processing technology that enables food safety while maintaining food quality. Learn how this high-pressure technology contributes to food science and testing to help support HPP processing and HPP food safety.
Validation of aseptic fillers intended for the production of low-acid, shelf-stable products is a core requirement of the FDA’s low-acid canned food (LACF) regulations (21CFR113 and 108.35). Microbiological challenges of the aseptic zone and packaging material sterilization cycles are important components of the validation process. These challenges are often conducted at the production site using non-pathogenic surrogate organisms that mimic the resistance of the pertinent target pathogen. This presentation will provide a brief history of the use of such surrogates for the validation of low-acid aseptic fillers along with the approach we have used to qualify the surrogates as adequate for the intended technology.”
