Sanitation of selected ready-to-eat intermediate-moisture foods of animal origin by E-beam irradiation.

To optimize the sanitation treatment of ready-to-eat (RTE) intermediate-moisture foods (IMF), the behavior of Listeria monocytogenes Scott A (CIP 103575), L. innocua (NTC 11288), Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (CECT 443), and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (CECT 4972) following treatment with electron-beam irradiation has been studied. As food matrixes, three RTE vacuum-packed products (Iberian dry-cured ham, dry beef [cecina], and smoked tuna) were used. Although an irradiation treatment is not necessary when the 10(2) colony-forming units/g microbiological criterion for L. monocytogenes is applied, a treatment of 1.5 kGy must be applied to IMFs to meet the food safety objective in the case of the "zero tolerance" criterion for the three strains. The IMF products presented negligible modifications of color (L*, a*, and b*), sensory (appearance, odor, and flavor), and rheology (hardness, springiness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, and breaking strength) parameters at doses lower than 2 kGy. Therefore, the treatment of 1.5 kGy warrants safe IMF with sensory properties similar to those of the genuine products.