The use of heat to inactivate foodborne pathogens is a critical control point and the mostcommon means of assuring the microbiological safety of processed foods. A key to optimization of theheating step is defining the target pathogens’ heat resistance. Sufficient evidence exists to documentthat insufficient cooking, reheating and/or subsequent cooling are often contributing factors in foodpoisoningoutbreaks. Accordingly, the objectives of the studies were to determine the heat treatmentrequired to achieve a specific lethality for foodborne pathogens in cooked beef, pork, turkey andchicken. The effects and interactions of temperature, pH, sodium chloride content, sodiumpyrophosphate, and sodium lactate concentration are among the variables that were considered whenattempting to assess the heat inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeriamonocytogenes, Salmonella spp.and spores of non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum. Incorporation ofthese multiple barriers increased the sensitivity of pathogens to heat, thereby reducing heat requirementsand ensuring the safety of ready-to-eat food products. Complex multifactorial experiments and analysisto quantify the effects and interactions of additional intrinsic and extrinsic factors and development of‘enhanced’ predictive models are underway to ensure the microbiological safety of thermally processedfoods. Predictive inactivation kinetics (thermal death) models for foodborne pathogens have beenconverted into an easy-to-use computer program that is available on the USDA- Eastern RegionalResearch Center website. These models should aid in evaluating the safety of cooked products and arebeing used as building blocks for microbial risk assessment. This presentation will address currentmodeling approaches and the key features and usefulness of the PMP for enhancing the safety ofprocessed meats and poultry products.
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