Effect of pH on the heat resistance of spores -: Comparison of two models

All published models describing the effect of pH on the heat resistance of spores can be regarded either as a linear first degree equation or a linear second degree equation. This work aimed to compare both models from three sets of published data for, Clostridium sporogenes and Bacillus stearothermophilus, respectively. The relative quality of fit of each model with respect to the other depends on the species, the strain and the heating temperature. Parameter estimation was more reliable for the second degree model than for of the simple first degree equation. However, in the case of acidic foodstuffs, predictions obtained from the second degree model are more sensitive toward errors of parameter values. The second degree model is better from the point of view of safety at most frequent ranges of pH of foods. Moreover, for Clostridium botulinum, the goodness of fit of this model is clearly higher than that of the first degree equation. If this observation is confirmed by further work, the second degree model in application of standard calculations of heat processes of foods would be preferred. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.