Behavior of Listeria monocytogenes in the presence of gluconic acid and during preparation of cottage cheese curd using gluconic acid.

Unrestricted or minimally restricted growth of Listeria monocytogenes strain V7 occurred 1) at 13 degrees C in tryptose broth with .125 or .25% gluconic acid or .1 to .3% glucono-delta-lactone, 2) at 13 degrees C in milk with .125 to 1.0% gluconic acid or .5 or 1.0% glucono-delta-lactone, 3) at 35 degrees C in tryptose broth with .125 to .5% gluconic acid or .1 to 5% glucono-delta-lactone, and 4) at 35 degrees C in milk with .125 to 1.0% gluconic acid or .5 to 1.5% glucono-delta-lactone. Limited growth of L. monocytogenes occurred 1) at 13 degrees C with .375 or .5% gluconic acid or .3 or .4% glucono-delta-lactone, 2) at 13 degrees C in milk with 1.5% glucono-delta-lactone, 3) at 35 degrees C in tryptose broth with .75% glucono-delta-lactone, and 4) at 35 degrees C in milk with 2.0% glucono-delta-lactone. Partial to complete inactivation of L. monocytogenes occurred 1) at 13 degrees C in tryptose broth with .75 to 1.5% gluconic acid or .75 or 1.0% glucono-delta-lactone, 2) at 13 degrees C in milk with 1.5% gluconic acid or 2.0 to 3.0% glucono-delta-lactone, 3) at 35 degrees C in tryptose broth with .75 to 1.5% gluconic acid or 1.0% glucono-delta-lactone, and 4) at 35 degrees C in milk with 1.5% gluconic acid or 2.5 or 3.0% glucono-delta-lactone. Milk containing L. monocytogenes was coagulated with gluconic acid, HCl, or rennet, and cottage cheese curd was prepared. After cooking, numbers of the pathogen in curd or whey from rennet-coagulated milk were reduced by ca. 1.5 and 2.5 orders, respectively. Small numbers of survivors appeared in curd but not in whey of HCl-coagulated milk. No survivors were detected in curd or whey of gluconic acid-coagulated milk.