Journal
JOURNAL OF FOOD ENGINEERING
Volume 217, Issue -, Pages 68-74Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2017.08.013
Keywords
Radio frequency pasteurization; Microbial validation; Low-moisture foods; Salmonella; Enterococcus faecium
Categories
Funding
- USDA Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) CAPS [2015-68003-23415]
- China Scholarship Council
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study developed a microbial validation method for radio frequency (RF) pasteurization of low moisture food powders. Wheat flour with water activity of 0.45 +/- 0.02 was used as a model. In this study, heat resistance parameters (D- and z-values) of Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 (S. Enteritidis) and its potential surrogate Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 (E. faecium) in wheat flour were determined. The results showed that, while both microorganisms yielded the similar z-values, E. faecium was more heat resistant than S. Enteritidis. For process validation, a 5-g pack of wheat flour inoculated with either microorganism was placed in the geometric center of 3 kg wheat flour and subjected to various processing times of up to 39 min in a 27 MHz RF unit. The inactivation kinetics matched but yielded slightly greater reduction than pasteurization modeled from measured temperature profiles and microbial thermal resistance parameters. This investigation concluded that E. faecium is a valid surrogate for Salmonella in wheat flour. A conservative validation can be obtained by inoculated pack protocol. RF heating technology has potential for pasteurizing wheat flour. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available