Modelling the bacterial survival/death interface induced by high pressure processing

The survival/death interface model was developed for prediction of inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes by high pressure processing (HPP). The model was derived from data sets comprising 360 combinations of environmental factors such as pressure (200, 300 400, and 500 MPa), pressure-holding time (1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30 min), pH (3, 4, 5, 6, 7), and inoculum level (3, 5, 7 log10 CFU/ml). The determination of survival/death of L. monocytogenes after HPP was confirmed by the presence/absence of colony forming ability on non-selective agar plates after 30 days of incubation at 20 °C in broth to take into account recovery of HPP-induced injured cells. The developed linear logistic model with time logarithmically transformed gave a degree of agreement between probabilities predicted by the fitted model and all observations as 99.3% concordant. The model provided a good fit to the data as shown by performance statistics. The developed interface model in the present study provided requisite process conditions for the target effect of HPP on L. monocytogenes. In addition to using the simple linear logistic model, a polynomial logistic model was also fitted to the data where pressure-holding time was not logarithmically transformed. That model did not produce a better fit to the data and resulted in some potentially misleading predictions. Optimization of HPP could be accomplished using the model developed in this study. Furthermore, choice in processing factors allows for processing flexibility in HPP and specifies the process criteria that are incorporated into the HACCP plan.