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EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF ELEVATED HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE FOR INACTIVATION OF LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES.

Abstract

The growth and survival of food borne pathogens in the food processing industries is one of the most important concerns affecting the health safety of consumers by causing infections and food spoilage. Listeria monocytogenes is recognized as a widespread foodborne pathogenic species that causes Listeriosis outbreaks associated with a variety of food products. There are only a limited number of studies available demonstrating the synergistic efficacy of combining different control mechanisms against food borne pathogens (such as L. monocytogenes), which could increase the food safety and the shelf life of food products. The current study investigated L. monocytogenes inactivation using high-pressure processing (HPP) only and a combination of HPP and caprylic acid. In this study we used a constant inoculum level 10^7 CFU/ml, exposed to different pressure intensities (200 - 500 MPa), with or without the addition of 0.1% caprylic acid, for 0, 3, and 5 minutes at 4℃. Exposure to 400 MPa at 4℃ without caprylic acid resulted in about a 2.0 log CFU/ml reduction in L. monocytogenes, while exposure to 500 MPa resulted in 3 log CFU/ml reduction. Exposure to 400 and 500 MPa at 4℃ with the addition of 0.1% caprylic acid did not show any significant differences in the log CFU/ml reduction compared to treatments without synergism. Treatments conducted at less than 400 MPa were less effective at the decontamination of L. monocytogenes. Generally, the longer the sample was exposed to elevated hydrostatic pressure, the more effective the decontamination effort was. This was more apparent at treatments of 400 MPa or greater. The results of this experiment could be important to the future of food decontamination protocols as it shows an effective alternative to the popular methods currently utilized in food safety management systems working to mitigate the burden of listeriosis.

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