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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #207070
Title: Fate of Salmonella thyphimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7, or Listeria monocytogenes on the surface of whole muscle turkey jerky

Author
item Porto-Fett, Anna
item Call, Jeffrey
item Hwang, Cheng An
item Juneja, Vijay
item INGHAM, STEVE - UNIV. OF WISC. MADISON
item INGHAM, BARBARA - UNIV. OF WISC. MADISON
item Luchansky, John

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2007
Publication Date: 7/8/2007
Citation: Porto Fett, A.C., Call, J.E., Hwang, C., Juneja, V.K., Ingham, S., Ingham, B., Luchansky, J.B. 2007. Fate of Salmonella thyphimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7, or Listeria monocytogenes on the surface of whole muscle turkey jerky. Meeting Abstract. International Association of Food Protection. P2-46.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Due to the scarcity of published literature on process lethality for jerky made from poultry, we evaluated the effectiveness of a commercial process that we previously validated for beef jerky for its lethality towards pathogens during processing of jerky made with whole-muscle turkey breast. A total of ca. 9.5 log10 CFU/mL of multi-strain mixtures of Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, or Listeria monocytogenes were separately applied to the surface of strips of turkey breast and treated as follows: i) non-marinated and inoculated, or ii) inoculated and then marinated (pH 5.4) in a sealed bag that was tumbled manually and stored at 4 degree C for 15 min. For each treatment, turkey breast strips (ca.15 cm by 5 cm by 5 mm) were separately inoculated with multi-strain mixtures of one of the three pathogens and placed on trays which were positioned on the top, middle, and bottom levels of a loading rack (three strips/pathogen/level). The strips on the rack were loaded into a commercial-scale smokehouse and heated/dried for either 2.5 or 3.5 h at 73.8 degree C (165 degree F) or 1.5 or 2.5 h at 82.2 degree C (180 degree F) with constant (hickory) smoking and without addition of humidity. Heating/drying turkey jerky for either 2.5 or 3.5 h at 165 degree F or for 1.5 or 2.5 h at 180 degree F resulted in a greater than or equal to 7.0 log CFU/strip reduction of all three pathogens. However, a slightly less reduction (6.6 log10 CFU/strip) was observed for non-marinated turkey jerky inoculated with Salmonella that was heated/dried at 165 degree F for 2.5 h or 180 degree F for 1.5 h. These data confirm that processing turkey jerky at higher temperatures and shorter times (3.5 h at 165 degree F or for 2.5 h at 180 degree F) is adequate for meeting the performance standard of a 7.0-log lethality established for Salmonella spp. in ready-to-eat poultry products.