Premium
Temperature and water activity minima for growth of spoilage moulds from meat
Author(s) -
Lowry P.D.,
Gill C.O.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1984.tb01339.x
Subject(s) - food spoilage , maxima and minima , water activity , food science , meat spoilage , environmental science , biology , mathematics , geology , water content , bacteria , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , mathematical analysis
L owry , P.D. & G ill , C.O. 1984. Temperature and water activity minima for growth of spoilage moulds from meat. Journal of Applied Bacteriology 56 , 193–199. Five species of fungi were isolated from mould spoilage on meat other than black spot. ‘White spot’ colonies yielded Chrysosporium pannorum or an Acremonium sp .; ‘whiskers’ colonies yielded Thamnidium elegans or Mucor racemosus , and blue‐green colonies yielded Penicillium corylophilum. Chrysosporium pannorum was moderately xerotolerant with a minimum growth temperature of — 5d̀C. The Acremonium sp. and P. corylophilum showed a similar level of xerotolerance but had a minimum growth temperature of — 2d̀C. Mucor racemosus was no more xerotolerant than many spoilage bacteria and did not grow below ‐ 1d̀C, but grew rapidly at 3d̀C and above. Thamnidium elegans grew at — 7d̀C on supercooled medium and an intrinsic minimum growth temperature of — 10d̀C was indicated. However, the low xerotolerance of this species precluded growth on frozen media below — 5d̀C. It seems therefore that — 5d̀C is the practical limiting temperature for mould growth on meat, and mould spoilage usually indicates that surfaces of freezer stored meats have approached and possibly exceeded 0d̀C.