Quantifying the robustness of a broth-based Escherichia coli O157:H7 growth model in ground beef

Effect of Environmental Factors on Intra-Specific Inhibitory Activity of Carnobacterium maltaromaticum

Carnobacterium maltaromaticum is frequently associated with foods having extended shelf-life due to its inhibitory activity to other bacteria. The quantification of such inhibition interactions affected by various environmental factors is limited. This study investigated the effect of environmental factors relevant to vacuum-packaged beef on inhibition between two model isolates of C. maltaromaticum, D0h and D8c, specifically D8c sensitivity to D0h inhibition and D0h inhibitor production. The effects of temperature (-1, 7, 15, 25 °C), atmosphere (aerobic and anaerobic), pH (5.5, 6, 6.5), lactic acid (0, 25, 50 mM) and glucose (0, 0.56, 5.55 mM) on D8c sensitivity (diameter of an inhibition zone) were measured. The effects of pH, glucose, lactic acid and atmosphere on D0h inhibitor production were measured at 25 °C. Sensitivity of D8c was the highest at 15 °C, under aerobic atmosphere, at higher concentrations of undissociated lactic acid and glucose, and at pH 5.5 (p < 0.001). pH significantly affected D0h inhibitor production (p < 0.001), which was the highest at pH 6.5. The effect of lactic acid depended upon pH level; at relatively low pH (5.5), lactic acid decreased the production rate (arbitrary inhibition unit (AU)/mL/h). This study provides a quantitative description of intra-species interactions, studied in in vitro environments that are relevant to vacuum-packaged beef.

Modelling the effect of water activity reduction by sodium chloride or glycerol on conidial germination and radial growth of filamentous fungi encountered in dairy foods

Water activity (a_w) is one of the most influential abiotic factors affecting fungal development in foods. The effects of a_w reduction on conidial germination and radial growth are generally studied by supplementing culture medium with the non-ionic solute glycerol despite food a_w can also depend on the concentration of ionic solutes such as sodium chloride (NaCl). The present study aimed at modelling and comparing the effects of a_w, either modified using NaCl or glycerol, on radial growth and/or conidial germination parameters for five fungal species occurring in the dairy environment. The estimated cardinal values were then used for growth prediction and compared to growth kinetics observed on commercial fresh cheese. Overall, as compared to glycerol, NaCl significantly increased the fungistatic effect resulting from a_w reduction by extending latency and/or reducing radial growth rates of Paecilomyces niveus, Penicillium brevicompactum, Penicillium expansum and Penicillium roqueforti but not of Mucor lanceolatus. Besides, NaCl significantly reduced a_w range for conidial germination and delayed median germination time of P. expansum but not of P. roqueforti. Despite these observations, cardinal a_w values obtained on glycerol-medium yielded similar predictions of radial growth and germination time in commercial fresh cheese as those obtained with NaCl. Thus, it indicates that, for the studied species and a_w range used for model validation, the use of NaCl instead of glycerol as a a_w depressor had only limited impact for fungal behavior prediction.

Effect of temperature, pH, and water activity on Mucor spp. growth on synthetic medium, cheese analog and cheese

The Mucor genus includes a large number of ubiquitous fungal species. In the dairy environment, some of them play a technological role providing typical organoleptic qualities to some cheeses while others can cause spoilage. In this study, we compared the effect of relevant abiotic factors for cheese production on the growth of six strains representative of dairy technological and contaminant species as well as of a non cheese related strain (plant endophyte). Growth kinetics were determined for each strain in function of temperature, water activity and pH on synthetic Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA), and secondary models were fitted to calculate the corresponding specific cardinal values. Using these values and growth kinetics acquired at 15 °C on cheese agar medium (CA) along with three different cheese types, optimal growth rates (μopt) were estimated and consequently used to establish a predictive model. Contrarily to contaminant strains, technological strains showed higher μopt on cheese matrices than on PDA. Interestingly, lag times of the endophyte strain were strongly extended on cheese related matrices. This study offers a relevant predictive model of growth that may be used for better cheese production control but also raises the question of adaptation of some Mucor strains to the cheese.

Stress-adaptive responses by heat under the microscope of predictive microbiology

AIMS

In previous studies the microbial kinetics of Escherichia coli K12 have been evaluated under static and dynamic conditions (Valdramidis et al. 2005, 2006). An acquired microbial thermotolerance following heating rates lower than 0.82 degrees C min(-1) for the studied micro-organism was observed. Quantification of this induced physiological phenomenon and incorporation, as a model building block, in a general microbial inactivation model is the main outcome of this work.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The microbial inactivation rate observed (k(obs)) under time-varying temperature conditions is studied and expressed as a function of the heating rate (dT/ dt). Hereto, a model building block related to the microbial physiology (k(phys)) under stress conditions is developed. Evaluation of the performance of the developed mathematical approach depicts that physiological adaptation is an essential issue to be considered when modelling microbial inactivation.

CONCLUSIONS

Consideration, at a mathematical level, of microbial responses resulting in physiological adaptations contribute to the reliable quantification of the safety risks during food processing.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

By taking into account the physiological adaptation, the microbiological evolution during heat processing can be accurately assessed, and overly conservative or fail dangerous food processing designs can be avoided.

Validation of time and temperature values as critical limits for the control of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during the production of fresh ground beef

In order to provide beef processors with valuable data to validate critical limits set for temperature during grinding, a study was conducted to determine Escherichia coli o157:H7 growth at various temperatures in raw ground beef. Fresh ground beef samples were inoculated with a cocktail mixture of streptomycin-resistant E. coli O157:H7 to facilitate recovery in the presence of background flora. Samples were held at 4.4, 7.2, and 10 degrees C, and at room temperature (22.2 to 23.3 degrees C) to mimic typical processing and holding temperatures observed in meat processing environments. E. coli O157:H7 counts were determined by direct plating onto tryptic soy agar with streptomycin (1,000 microg/ml), at 2-h intervals over 12 h for samples held at room temperature. Samples held under refrigeration temperatures were sampled at 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h. Less than one log of E. coli O157:H7 growth was observed at 48 h for samples held at 10 degrees C. Samples held at 4.4 and 7.2 degrees C showed less than one log of E. coli O157:H7 growth at 72 h. Samples held at room temperature showed no significant increase in E. coli O157:H7 counts for the first 6 h, but increased significantly afterwards. These results illustrate that meat processors can utilize a variety of time and temperature combinations as critical limits in their hazard analysis critical control point plans to minimize E. coli O157:H7 growth during the production and storage of ground beef.

Quantifying the robustness of a broth-based model for predicting Listeria monocytogenes growth in meat and poultry products

Given the importance of Listeria monocytogenes as a risk factor in meat and poultry products, there is a need to evaluate the relative robustness of predictive growth models applied to meat products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Pathogen Modeling Program is a tool widely used by the food industry to estimate pathogen growth, survival, and inactivation in food. However, the robustness of the Pathogen Modeling Program broth-based L. monocytogenes growth model in meat and poultry application has not, to our knowledge, been specifically evaluated. In the present study, this model was evaluated against independent data in terms of predicted microbial counts and covered a range of conditions inside and outside the original model domain. The robustness index was calculated as the ratio of the standard error of prediction (root mean square error of the model against an independent data set not used to create the model) to the standard error of calibration (root mean square error of the model against the data set used to create the model). Inside the calibration domain of the Pathogen Modeling Program, the best robustness index for application to meat products was 0.37; the worst was 3.96. Outside the domain, the best robustness index was 0.40, and the worst was 1.22. Product type influenced the robustness index values (P < 0.01). In general, the results indicated that broth-based predictive models should be validated against independent data in the domain of interest; otherwise, significant predictive errors can occur.