Due to the ability of foodborne pathogens to survive in low moisture foods, the decontamination of these products is an important issue in food hygiene. Up to now, such decontamination has mostly been achieved through empirical methods. The intention of this work is to establish a more rational use of heat treatment cycles. The effects of thermal treatment cycles on the inactivation of dried Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Senftenberg, Cronobacter sakazakii and Escherichia coli were assessed. Bacteria were mixed with whole milk powder and dried down to different water activity levels (0.11, 0.25, 0.44 and 0.58). The rate of inactivated bacteria was determined after thermal treatment at 85°C, 90°C, 95°C and 100°C, from 0s to 180s in closed vessels, in order to maintain aw during treatment. In a first step, logarithmic bacterial inactivation was fitted by means of a classical loglinear model in which temperature and aw have a significant effect (p<0.05). DT,aw values were estimated for each T, aw condition and the results clearly showed that aw is a major parameter in the thermal decontamination of dried foods, a lower aw involving greater thermal resistance. In a second step, Bigelow's law was used to determine zT, a classical parameter relative to temperature, and yaw values, a new parameter relative to aw resistance. The values obtained for zT and yaw showed that the bacterium most resistant to temperature variations is Salmonella Typhimurium, while the one most resistant to aw variations is Escherichia coli. These data will help design decontamination protocols or processes in closed batches for low moisture foods.
Keywords: Cronobacter sakazakii; Escherichia coli; Low water activity food; Predictive microbiology; Salmonella Senftenberg; Salmonella Typhimurium.
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