Predictive modelling of Listeria monocytogenes inactivation under high pressure carbon dioxide

Several sigmoidal models (Modified Whiting and Buchanan, Schnute, Richards, Stannard, Whiting and Buchanan, Gompertz, and Logistic) were compared to describe inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes under high pressure carbon dioxide. The survivor curves were described mathematically by fitting data using nonlinear models and compared to describe inactivation of L. monocytogenes in Brain Heart Infusion Broth. They were compared statistically by using the F-test. Three-parameter models were statistically sufficient to describe the inactivation of L. monocytogenes and were easy to use. Increased pressure and temperatures had significant effects on the survival of L. monocytogenes. (C) 2000 Academic Press.