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Microbiological safety of prepacked meat
Project
Project code: BfR-BIOS-08-1322-711
Contract period: 01.01.2019
- 31.12.2019
Purpose of research: Applied research
Fresh meat is sold to the consumer packed in the self-service area in the retail trade. Common forms of packaging are vacuum packaging or packaging under modified atmosphere (synonyms: protective atmosphere, modified atmosphere packaging / MAP). These packaging technologies serve to maintain meat quality and allow products to be stored for longer periods. The atmosphere and the storage temperature contribute to the stability. Changes in the composition of the microflora can occur over the storage period. Thus the spoilage flora develops and determines the end of the shelf life, which leads to obvious sensory changes. Chicken meat in particular is a sensitive product with a limited shelf life and is usually contaminated with food-borne zoonotic agents. Therefore the product is stored at a maximum temperature of +4 °C in the retail trade. In the consumer household, a deviation of the storage temperature is not unusual and higher temperatures are likely during storage in the refrigerator. The aim of this project is to investigate the development of selected food-associated pathogens during the storage of chicken meat. The two most common packaging technologies and two different storage temperatures will be used to assess the storage situation in the retail trade and at the consumer level. During cold storage, the propagation of zoonotic bacteria is suppressed. Filamentation, cell growth without division, has been described for various bacterial species (Salmonella, Mattick et al. 2002; E. coli, Gill et al. 2007) when food was stored in a cool or protective atmosphere. It is assumed that the cells divide again under favourable environmental conditions and that the directly determined colony count of conventional culture methods underestimates the amount of pathogenic bacteria in the food(Jones et al. 2013). This makes it difficult to assess the risk of disease from handling these foods during subsequent preparation and consumption. The aim of this project is as well to investigate the quantitative development of Campylobacter, E. coli and Salmonella in connection with the development of spoilage flora until the end of the consumption period of pre-packed chicken meat and to improve quantitative analysis. Objectives: - Evaluation of commercial packaging technologies in terms of microbiological safety. - Optimisation of test methods for the detection of microorganisms from refrigerated packaged poultry meat. References: Gill, C.O., Badoni, M., Jones, T.H., 2007. Behaviours of log phase cultures of eight strains of Escherichia coli incubated at temperatures of 2, 6, 8 and 10 degrees C. Int J Food Microbiol 119, 200-206. Jones, T.H., Vail, K.M., McMullen, L.M., 2013. Filament formation by foodborne bacteria under sublethal stress. International Journal of Food Microbiology 165, 97-110. Mattick, K.L., Phillips, L.E., Jorgensen, F., Lappin-Scott, H.M., Humphrey, T.J., 2003. Filament formation by Salmonella spp. inoculated into liquid food matrices at refrigeration temperatures, and growth patterns when warmed. Journal of Food Protection 66, 215-219.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal Husbandry
- Food Processing
- Food microbiology
