MODELAGEM MATEMÁTICA DO CRESCIMENTO DE Brochothrix thermosphacta EM PRESUNTO COZIDO, FATIADO E EMBALADO A VÁCUO

Abstract

The cooked, sliced, and vacuum-packed ham (CSH) is a meat product, economically important, with high consumption in Brazil and worldwide. The shelf life of this product is limited, mainly due to deterioration issues because it is a refrigerated product, temperature variations that occur throughout the cold chain can increase the risk of deterioration, reducing its shelf life. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the growth of Brochothrix thermosphacta in CSH under different isothermal and non-isothermal storage conditions. The growth data of B. thermosphacta in CSH at temperatures of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 ºC of storage were acquired from the research of Hwang and Sheen (2011), available in the Combase database and the Baranyi and Roberts’ model was fitted to the growth curves. According to the statistical indices, it can be said that the model presented excellent performance to describe the growth of B. thermosphacta in CSH at the five temperatures evaluated, with values of R2 ≥ 0.99 and Standard Errors of the fits close to zero. More, the square root model was selected to generate simulations of growth predictions in conditions of temperature fluctuation, highlighting the importance of maintaining the cold chain, since a minimum change in these conditions can cause a significant increase in the growth of spoilage microorganisms of meat products. It can be concluded that the application of predictive models and easy-to-use software can assist the meat industries in determining the shelf life of food, without the need to carry out several experiments to determine the quality and safety of products.