Predicting thermal inactivation in media of different pH of Salmonella grown at different temperatures

The influence of the growth temperature and the pH of the heating medium on the heat resistance at different temperatures of Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 13311 was studied and described mathematically. The shift of the growth temperature from 10 to 37 degreesC increased heat resistance of S. typhimurium fourfold. The pH of the heating medium at which heat resistance was maximum was pH 6 for cells grown at 37 degreesC, but changed with growth temperature. The alkalinization of the heating medium from pH 6 to pH 7.7 decreased the heat resistance of cells grown at 37 degreesC by a factor of 3. Neither the growth temperature nor the pH modified the z values significantly (4.9 degreesC). The decimal reduction times at different treatment temperatures, in buffers of different pH of cells of S. typhimurium grown at different temperatures, were accurately described by a mathematical equation (correlation coefficient of 0.97). This equation was also tested for Salmonella senftenberg 775W (ATCC 43845) and Salmonella enteritidis ATCC 13076, strains in which the correlation coefficients between the observed and the theoretically calculated values were 0.91 and 0.98, respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.