Modeling and Predicting the High Pressure Carbon Dioxide Inactivation of Microorganisms in Foods

Abstract

Published high pressure carbon dioxide (HPCD) inactivation data of natural microflora in apple juice and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in distilled water were described by the Weibull model. The shape parameter of the Weibull model was assumed to be pressure and temperature independent and could be fixed to reduce the number of parameters of the model from two to one. The rate parameter of the reduced Weibull model can be described in terms of pressure and temperature by use of a second order polynomial function fulfilling a number of constraints. Integrated models (secondary model incorporated into the primary one) produced successful predictions of survival curves for both natural microflora in apple juice and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in distilled water within the interpolation region.