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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 #225827
Title: VALIDATION OF COMMERCIAL PROCESSES FOR INACTIVATION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7, SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM, AND 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, STEVEN - UNIV. OF WISCONSIN
item INGHAM, BARBARA - UNIV. OF WISCONSIN
item Luchansky, John

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2009
Publication Date: 4/1/2009
Citation: Porto Fett, A.C., Call, J.E., Hwang, C., Juneja, V.K., Ingham, S., Ingham, B., Luchansky, J.B. 2009. VALIDATION OF COMMERCIAL PROCESSES FOR INACTIVATION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7, SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM, AND LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES ON THE SURFACE OF WHOLE MUSCLE TURKEY JERKY. Poultry Science. 88:1275-1281.

Interpretive Summary: The association of foodborne illness due to the consumption of shelf-stable, ready-to-eat dried meats contaminated with bacterial pathogens has been documented. Therefore, such products are of major concern for the food industry. This emphasizes the need to better define and quantify the destruction of pathogens during the processing of such products. We conducted cooking/drying validation studies for inactivation of deadly pathogens in marinated and non-marinated turkey jerky. Our results indicate that, although processing marinated turkey jerky for at least 2.5 h at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) or for at least 1.5 h at 82.2 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Fahrenheit) is adequate to meet the regulatory requirements of a ten million-fold decrease in levels established for Salmonella spp., only marinated turkey jerky that was cooked/dried for 3.5 h at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) satisfied the USDA/FSIS standard of identity (M:Pr of less than or equal to 0.75:1.0) and/or shelf-stability (aw of 0.80) requirements for jerky. This information will be of immediate use to the food industry and regulatory agencies to guard against major foodborne pathogens in poultry jerky.

Technical Abstract: A total of ca. 9.1 log10 CFU/strip of multi-strain mixtures of Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7, or Listeria monocytogenes were separately applied to the surface of strips of turkey breast meat which were treated as follows: i) inoculated but not marinated or ii) inoculated and then marinated in a sealed bag that was tumbled manually. For each treatment, a total of three strips were separately inoculated with multi-strain mixtures of one of the three pathogens and placed on the top, middle, and bottom levels of a loading rack. The strips on the rack were then loaded into a smokehouse and cooked/dried for either 2.5 or 3.5 h at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) or 1.5 or 2.5 h at 82.2 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Fahrenheit) with constant hickory smoking and without addition of humidity. Cooking/drying marinated turkey jerky at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) or 82.2 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Fahrenheit) resulted in a greater than or equal to 7.1 log10 CFU/strip reduction of all three pathogens. For non-marinated jerky strips that were inoculated with E. coli O157:H7 or L. monocytogenes and cooked/dried at 82.2 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Fahrenheit) a reduction greater than or equal to 7.4 log10 CFU/strip was observed, whereas for strips that were inoculated with Salmonella a reduction greater than or equal to 6.8 log10 CFU/strip was observed. Cooking/drying non-marinated turkey breast strips at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) for 3.5 h resulted in a reduction of ca. 7.1 to 7.6 log10 CFU/strip for all three pathogens, whereas for strips that were cooked/dried for 2.5 h a reduction of ca. 5.4 to 6.2 log10 CFU/strip was observed. Although processing marinated turkey jerky for at least 2.5 h at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) or for at least 1.5 h at 82.2 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Fahrenheit) was adequate to meet the performance standard of a 7.0-log10 lethality established for Salmonella spp., only marinated turkey jerky that was cooked/dried for 3.5 h at 73.8 degrees Celsius (165 degrees Fahrenheit) satisfied the USDA/FSIS standard of identity (M:Pr of less than or equal to 0.75:1.0) and/or shelf-stability (aw of 0.80) requirements for jerky.