PREDICTIVE MICROBIOLOGY FOR MONITORING SPOILAGE OF DAIRY-PRODUCTS WITH TIME-TEMPERATURE INTEGRATORS

Time/temperature integrators (TTI) have a potential for monitoring time-temperature history of perishable foods, including dairy products. To correlate the end of shelf life of dairy products with different TTI's, kinetic data for growth of a dairy spoilage microorganism was obtained. Both Arrhenius and square root equations were used to model the growth of Pseudomonas fragi. A significant negative history effect was observed for P. fragi growth rate whereas history effect was positive on the lag phase, under certain nonisothermal conditions. A correlation scheme of P. fragi growth was developed with the TTI response. The application of TTI's for dairy products is feasible despite the history effects.