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Title
Abstract
The objective of the study was to predict the effect of smoking conditions applied to smoke three types of raw meat products on the potential for Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 to grow in those products. The study was performed in a selected meat processing plant, under real production conditions as existing during any regular, commercial production process carried out in this plant The study target comprised five batches of the following products being produced: a raw pork loin, Frankfurter sausages, and a raw soft ‘Polish’ sausage. The following parameters of products being smoked were determined: contents of salts and nitrates(III), pH, and the smoking process temperatures within a range from 30°C to 37°C. The pathogen growth levels being predicted were calculated using a Pathogen Modelling Software, version 6.0; the calculations performed included the parameters as determined above. With regard to individual production batches of products under analysis, there were stated very high variations among the following parameters characterizing the same product type in all 5 batches: contents of nitrates (III) (V = 23.63–59.6%), contents of salts (V = 10.82–17.78%), and real smoking times (V = 35.1–39.1%). Consequently, there were high differences among predicted periods of microbial stability of Escherichia coli O157:H7 calculated for each individual production batch of raw pork loin (V = 9–95%). The smoking conditions applied in this plant caused that, in the case of the Polish sausages and Frankfurter sausages, it was possible for the lag-phase of Escherichia coli O157:H7 to end prior to the completion of the entire smoking process.
Keywords
predictive microbiology, smoking, raw meat products