Abstract
Ground pork meat with natural microbiota and inoculated with low initial densities (1–10 or 10–100 CFU/g) of Salmonella enterica or Listeria monocytogenes was stored under abusive temperature at 10°C and thermally treated by a simulated home pan-frying procedure. The growth and inactivation characteristics were also evaluated in broth. In ground pork meat, the population of S. enterica increased by less than one log after 12-days of storage at 10°C, whereas L. monocytogenes increased by 2.3 to 2.8 log units. No unusual intrinsic heat resistance of the pathogens was noted when tested in broth at 60°C although shoulders were observed on the inactivation curves of L. monocytogenes. After growth of S. enterica and L. monocytogenes at 10°C for 5 days to levels of 1.95 log CFU/g and 3.10 log CFU/g, respectively, in ground pork meat, their inactivation in the burger subjected to a simulated home pan-frying was studied. After thermal treatment S. enterica was undetectable but L. monocytogenes was recovered in three out of six of the 25 g burger samples. Overall, the present study shows that data on growth and inactivation of broths are indicative but may underestimate as well as overestimate behavior of pathogens and thus need confirmation in food matrix conditions to assess food safety in reasonably foreseen abusive conditions of storage and usual home pan-frying of meat burgers in Belgium.
Highlights
Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes are two of the most important foodborne pathogens; they are known to occur in raw meat, and are associated with foodborne outbreaks (Rose et al, 2002; EFSA and ECDC, 2015)
total plate count (TPC) reached its maximum value of ca. 8.9 log CFU/g, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) at 8.3, whereas 5.9 log CFU/g for coliforms
We studied the growth of S. enterica and L. monocytogenes in artificially contaminated ground pork meat during storage under reasonably foreseen temperature abuse at 10◦C
Summary
Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes are two of the most important foodborne pathogens; they are known to occur in raw meat, and are associated with foodborne outbreaks (Rose et al, 2002; EFSA and ECDC, 2015). Ground meat is a potentially hazardous type of fresh meat, it is susceptible to bacterial contamination throughout its mass, and more likely to contain foodborne pathogens (Lianou and Koutsoumanis, 2009; Schlisselberg et al, 2013). Both retailers and consumers use low storage temperatures to minimize growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. The growth of S. enterica and L. monocytogenes in ground pork meat with realistic levels of natural microbiota and low levels of inoculated pathogens is, as far as the authors are aware of, not available in literature or in the Combase Browser
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