Tahini and tahini-based products are popular with consumers due to their special flavor and high nutritional values, but often have been linked to Salmonella outbreaks. The objective of this study was to compare effects of different kinds of natural antimicrobials on Salmonella inactivation in undiluted and diluted tahini during thermal treatment and storage. Results showed that the Weibull model was more suitable to describe the thermal inactivation behavior of S. montevideo CICC21588 in two kinds of tahini than the first-order model. Inactivation curves were concave-upward in undiluted tahini but concave-downward in diluted tahini. During storage of undiluted tahini, 3% oregano oil caused extra 1.44 or 0.80 log CFU/g reductions after 7 days at 25 °C or 4 °C compared to the control and 0.5% citric acid caused an extra reduction of 0.75 log CFU/g after 7 d at 4 °C. For diluted tahini, 2-3% oregano oil and 0.4-0.5% ε-polylysine reduced more populations compared to undiluted tahini. These antimicrobials all inhibited the growth of S. montevideo during 24 h at 25 °C and ε-polylysine had the best effect. Furthermore, these antimicrobials enhanced the Salmonella inactivation in diluted tahini during thermal treatment, and there was less of a synergistic effect of thermal and antimicrobials in undiluted tahini due to less sublethal injured cells caused by heat. This study may provide useful information for Salmonella inactivation in tahini.
Keywords: Salmonella montevideo CICC21588; antimicrobial effects; natural antimicrobials; tahini; thermal inactivation.