Listeria monocytogenes inactivation in deboned dry-cured hams by high pressure processing

Aida Pérez-Baltar; Alejandro Serrano; Raquel Montiel; Margarita Medina

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2019.107960

Listeria monocytogenes inactivation in deboned dry-cured hams by high pressure processing

Meat Sci. 2020 Feb:160:107960. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2019.107960. Epub 2019 Oct 17.

Authors

Aida Pérez-Baltar¹, Alejandro Serrano¹, Raquel Montiel¹, Margarita Medina²

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Tecnología de Alimentos, INIA, Carretera de La Coruña Km 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
² Departamento de Tecnología de Alimentos, INIA, Carretera de La Coruña Km 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: mmedina@inia.es.

PMID: 31669860
DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2019.107960

Abstract

The effect of high pressure processing (HPP) on Listeria monocytogenes inactivation on the surface and in the interior of deboned dry-cured ham was investigated. Whole deboned hams were pressurized at 450 MPa for 10 min or 600 MPa for 5 min and stored for 60 d at 4 and 12 °C. In control non-pressurized dry-cured hams, L. monocytogenes counts decreased on the surface throughout refrigerated storage, whereas remained unchanged in the interior of the product. Treatments at 600 MPa reduced L. monocytogenes population by 2 logs on the surface and by 3 logs in the interior of hams. Minor changes in the physicochemical characteristics were found. High water activity in the interior of dry-cured ham might enhance the pathogen inhibition by HPP. Treatment at 600 MPa for 5 min in whole dry-cured ham allowed to reach the Food Safety Objective for L. monocytogenes according to the European and the USDA criteria in case of contamination during deboning.

Keywords: Meat products; Pathogens; Pressurization; Safety.

MeSH terms

Animals
Food Handling / methods*
Food Microbiology
Food Preservation / methods
Listeria monocytogenes / physiology*
Meat Products / microbiology*
Pressure*
Swine