Kinetic modeling of inactivation of foodborne bacterial pathogens in serrano artisanal cheese during ripening

Abstract

Abstract Serrano artisanal cheese is a traditional raw milk dairy product from southern Brazil. For safe consumption of raw milk products, ripening is a critical period for reducing populations of pathogenic and spoilage microorganism and, then, the knowledge on inactivation kinetics of microorganisms is necessary to guarantee food safety and quality. In the present work, inactivation kinetics of foodborne bacterial pathogens required by Brazilian regulations in serrano artisanal cheeses were statistically evaluated during ripening. The Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, coagulase-positive strain of Staphylococcus aureus and fecal coliforms were analyzed for up to 60 days. Experimental data were fitted using first-order model, Weibull and log-linear + shoulder models. Results showed no presence of Salmonella spp. and L. monogyatogenes in the cheeses through the studied period. The first-order and Weibull models presented good performance to represent coagulase-positive strain of S. aureus and fecal coliforms during ripening, although Weibull distribution showed better outcomes to experimental data. Log-linear+shoulder equation was discarded to describe the reduction of microorganism counts for physical criteria. Kinetics showed an initial resistance of fecal coliforms to be inactivated, unlike to coagulase-positive strain of S. aureus population. Modeling analysis allowed estimating serrano artisanal cheese ripening period to be longer than 33 days for achieving a safe product according to the Brazilian Regulatory Standards.