A microbial challenge study for validating continuous radio-frequency assisted thermal processing pasteurization of egg white powder.

In this study, continuous RF processing was evaluated for pasteurization of EWP. EWP samples were inoculated with a 5-strain Salmonella cocktail or Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 for the microbial challenge studies. To evaluate the inoculation method, stability and homogeneity tests were conducted for both Salmonella and E. faecium in EWP. Continuous RF heating of EWP was conducted in a 6-kW, 27.12 MHz pilot-scale parallel-plate RF heating system. RF-assisted thermal processing of EWP at 80 °C for 2 h provided >6.69 log reduction for Salmonella. E. faecium was found to be a suitable surrogate for Salmonella due to its higher resistance and similar inactivation kinetics during RF heating of EWP. The validated RF-assisted thermal process can be scaled up for use in the egg industry. PMID: 31500703 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Food Microbiology - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Food Microbiol Source Type: research