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FATE OF POST‐COOKING MICROBIAL CONTAMINANTS OF SOME MAJOR MENU ITEMS
Author(s) -
MAXCY R. BURT
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1976.tb00623.x
Subject(s) - contamination , salmonella , clostridium perfringens , food science , spore , bacteria , microorganism , food poisoning , aflatoxin , biology , food microbiology , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , genetics
The growing complexity of institutional feeding systems presents challenges for protection against post‐cooking microbial contamination. Satellite feeding systems, which commonly involve prolonged holding of cooked foods, increase the potential hazards originating from microbial contaminants. To study the fate of post‐cooking contaminants, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens were grown as broth cultures and applied to the surfaces of foods. Cooking relatively heavily contaminated ground meat reduced the natural microbial load to a very low count. The resistant flora consisted of vegetative cells and Bacillus spores. The count in the cooked food did not increase after each step in the sequence of treatments involving freezing, warming and holding warm or at room temperature for as much as six hours. Surface inoculated meat loaf and peas were held at 50° or 60°C for up to 2 hr with periodic plate counts using selective media to determine the fate of the specific bacteria being studied. Survival of surface inocula was attributed to surface evaporation cooling the lodgment of bacteria. Covering food with a polyethylene film retarded surface evaporation and increased destruction of surface contaminants.