Esteban Espuña, S.A., C/Mestre Turina, 39 - 41, 17800 Olot, Girona, Spain; IRTA, Food Quality and Technology Program, Finca Camps i Armet s/n, 17121 Monells, Girona, Spain.
IRTA, Food Quality and Technology Program, Finca Camps i Armet s/n, 17121 Monells, Girona, Spain.
Meat Sci. 2023 Aug;202:109221. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2023.109221. Epub 2023 May 10.
Variability of salt content in dry-cured ham production can pose microbiological food safety issues, especially in salt reduced and/or non-nitrified products. In this regard, computed tomography (CT) could help to non-invasively characterised the product to further adjust the production process and ensure its safety. The aim of this work was to study the application of CT to estimate a in dry-cured ham to be used by predictive microbiology to evaluate the impact of the production process on the behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes and Clostridium botulinum. Effect of nitrite elimination and fat content of hams was also evaluated. Thirty hams with two different fat content levels were characterised analytically and using CT at different key points in the process. The safety of the process was evaluated by applying predictive microbiology using both analytical and CT data as model inputs. Results showed that nitrite and fat content had an impact on the predicted growth potential of the pathogens evaluated. After the resting period, if no nitrite is added, the time needed for 1 log increase (t) of L. monocytogenes would shorten by 26% and 22% in lean and fat hams, respectively. After week 12, important differences on t values for C. botulinum were found between both groups of hams (ca. 40% shorter in fat hams). CT can provide reliable pixel-to-pixel information for predictive microbiology to evaluate the growth of relevant pathogens, but further studies are needed to validate this combination as a tool to evaluate the safety of the production process.
干腌火腿生产过程中盐含量的变化可能会带来微生物食品安全问题，尤其是在低盐和/或非亚硝酸盐产品中。在这方面，计算机断层扫描（CT）可以帮助对产品进行非侵入性特征描述，以进一步调整生产工艺并确保其安全性。本工作的目的是研究 CT 在估计干腌火腿中的应用，以便用于预测微生物学，评估生产工艺对李斯特菌和肉毒梭菌行为的影响。还评估了消除亚硝酸盐和火腿中脂肪含量的影响。对具有两种不同脂肪含量水平的 30 个火腿进行了分析和 CT 特征描述，在加工过程中的不同关键点进行了分析和 CT 特征描述。通过应用预测微生物学，将分析数据和 CT 数据作为模型输入来评估过程的安全性。结果表明，亚硝酸盐和脂肪含量会影响所评估病原体的预测生长潜力。如果在休息期不添加亚硝酸盐，瘦火腿和肥火腿中李斯特菌的 1 对数增加所需的时间（t）分别缩短 26%和 22%。在第 12 周后，两组火腿之间的 C. botulinum 的 t 值存在重要差异（肥火腿中 t 值约缩短 40%）。CT 可以为预测微生物学提供可靠的像素到像素信息，以评估相关病原体的生长，但需要进一步的研究来验证这种组合作为评估生产工艺安全性的工具。
