Abstract

The focus of this study involved the application of an effective methodology to estimate decimal reduction of two main food-borne pathogens (i.e., Salmonella and Listeria) in frozen cooked chicken products using surface pasteurization. A quick and effective approach to estimate the surface temperature of the product was proposed using the Page equation and the evaluation of pathogenic destruction on the large-size and small-size frozen steamed chicken products. The samples were in the frozen form and treated as if they were post-contaminated by Salmonella and Listeria. The pasteurization temperatures in the steam oven were varied at 70, 75, 80, 90 and 100 degree Celsius. The Page equation performed well to accurately predict the surface temperature profile of the different product sizes. The steam treatment was very effective in heating up the pasteurized products and resulted in similar temperature profiles regardless of product size. The relationship between the model constant coefficient and pasteurization temperature followed the Arrhenius expression. The substitution of the predicted surface temperature profile to the process lethality equation facilitated quick estimation of pathogenic destruction on the sample surface. The different sizes of the chicken products only slightly affected the pasteurization time. However, the pasteurization time to achieve that same decimal reduction varied significantly between the two different target pathogens. The simplicity and effectiveness of this approach did not only eliminate multiple experimental repetitions and simplify the estimation of pathogenic destruction, but also provided and effective minimal processing procedure for frozen cooked chicken pasteurization of two sizes of steamed products while retaining the desirable quality of end products after surface pasteurization.

Submitted: June 22, 2006 · Accepted: July 12, 2007 · Published: August 24, 2007

Recommended Citation

Thipayarat, Aluck (2007) "Assessment of Decimal Reduction of Pathogens in Frozen Chicken Products Using Surface Pasteurization," International Journal of Food Engineering: Vol. 3 : Iss. 4, Article 5.
DOI: 10.2202/1556-3758.1113
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ijfe/vol3/iss4/art5