Microbial Food Safety of Sous Vide Cooking Processes of Chicken and Eggs.

Sous vide cooking implies cooking foods, packed under vacuum conditions, at controlled temperatures (<80 °C). Although this method opens a new window of culinary possibilities, it also involves a series of risks, mainly microbiologically related, that must be assessed. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of SV processes to inactivate three important foodborne pathogens (, , and spores) in chicken breast and eggs (omelet). For this purpose, two levels of inoculation (10 and 10 CFU/g), two different recipes, and two distinct treatments (with and without storage) for each food were studied. After treatments and storage, the corresponding microbiological counts were performed with standard methods. Average inactivation rates observed were 1.70, 4.82, and 4.34 log for spores, , and , respectively. No significant differences in microbial inactivation were perceived between the different recipes (food composition) or treatments, except for spores, which showed a higher inactivation rate (2.30 log) when samples were stored. In general, preliminary results showed that, although appropriate levels of inactivation are reached for vegetative pathogenic cells, in some cases (spores in breast and in eggs), the remaining microbiological risks should be considered and further studied, especially if long-term storage is planned.