D and z-values for Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella typhimurium in packaged low-fat ready-to-eat turkey bologna subjected to a surface pasteurization treatment

Carolina Culinary Foods, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.

The D-values of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium at various surface pasteurization temperatures were determined for low-fat turkey bologna. Four cm2 meat squares were sterilized by irradiation prior to inoculation with 0.1 mL of a 10(8) cfu/mL culture, aseptically packaged in a linear low-density polyethylene pouch, and vacuum-sealed. Thermal treatments were administered by submerging packages in a heated water bath maintained at various set temperatures. At an 85 degrees C water bath temperature, no L. monocytogenes cells were detected (<10(2)) after 10 s of exposure, whereas at 61 degrees C cells viable were detected (>10(2)) up to 10 min of heating. No S. Typhimurium cells (<10(2)) were detected after 10 s at 70 degrees C, but cells survived up to 7 min at 60 degrees C. The D-values for L. monocytogenes at 61 and 65 degrees C were 124 and 16.2 s, respectively; whereas S. Typhimurium D-values were 278 s at 57 and 81 s at 60 degrees C. Z-values were 4.44 and 5.56 degrees C, respectively, for L. monocytogenes and S. Typhimurium. This study demonstrated that significant reductions in bacterial populations and complete inactivation of S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes cells can be achieved using an in-package thermal pasteurization process.