Effectiveness of lemon juice in the elimination of Salmonella Typhimurium in stuffed mussels.

Street foods are becoming more and more prominent in countries all over the world. There are many reports of disease due to consumption of street foods contaminated by pathogens. With the modern trend toward more natural preservatives, the use of organic acids can achieve a good microbiological safety in food. In the present study, stuffed mussels were inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium suspension to provide initial populations of approximately 6 and 3 log CFU/g. After inoculation, samples were treated with fresh lemon juice and lemon dressing for 0, 5, and 15 min, and pathogens were enumerated by using direct plating on brilliant green agar. Treatment of stuffed mussels inoculated at high inoculum level, with lemon juice and lemon dressing for different exposure times caused reduction ranging between 0.25 and 0.56 log CFU/g and 0.5 and 0.69 log CFU/g, respectively, whereas in stuffed-mussel samples inoculated at low level, lemon juice and lemon dressing caused 0.08 to 0.25 log CFU/g and 0.22 to 0.78 log CFU/g reductions, respectively. Results of the study showed that both lemon juice and lemon dressing used as flavoring and acidifying agents for stuffed mussels caused slight decrease in Salmonella Typhimurium as an immediate inhibitor, but this effect increased by time. However, treatment of stuffed mussels with the inhibitors until 15 min is not enough to prevent Salmonella Typhimurium outbreaks related to stuffed mussels.