Impacts of Temperature and Salt Concentrations for Thermal Inactivation of Salmonella in Moisture Enhanced Reconstructed Chicken Patties

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the thermal kinetic parameters of Salmonella in moisture-enhanced, reconstructed ground chicken patties as affected by temperatures and salt concentrations. Salmonella is responsible for 35% of the foodborne illnesses associated with poultry products (Batz et al., 2011). Nonintact reconstructed chicken meat is mixed with brine solutions containing various salt and polyphosphate concentrations to increase water-holding capacity, decrease cooking losses, improve sensory tasting scores, and maintain the good quality of completed chicken products (Gill et al., 2004). Increasing salt concentrations within meats can increase the thermal inactivation of pathogens. In this study, Salmonella Typhimurium American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 14028 was used, which is the same strain used in our previous validation studies of antimicrobials on broiler carcasses (Lemonakis et al., 2017). Survival curves for 62℃ of 0 and 1% salt samples indicate more heat susceptibility than 3 and 5% with roughly a 1.40 to 1.53 log CFU/g difference. For 66℃, survival curves of 1 and 3% salt samples indicate slightly more heat susceptibility than 0 and 5%, with a 1.21 to 1.66 log CFU/g difference. For 70℃, survival curves of 1 and 3% salt samples indicate more heat susceptibility than seen at other temperatures for 0 and 5%, with 1 and 5% differing from 1 and 3% by 1.20 to 1.23 log CFU/g. For 74℃, heat susceptibility for all salt concentrations (0,1.0,3.0,5.0%) is similar, with 1% and 3% being 0.64 to 0.99 log CFU/g different from 0% and 5%. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the thermal resistance of Salmonella is significantly affected by both temperature and salt concentration. There is evidence to suggest that 0% has the highest amount of resistance among the other concentrations, 1% is the next highest, while both 3 and 5% showed lower, but almost equal z-values. Suggesting that salt concentration above 3% will show a similar or less thermal resistance, and concentrations of 0 and 1% will have equal or more thermal resistance in future research.