Microbiological safety of shelf-stable meat products prepared by employing hurdle technology

A number of ready-to-use shelf stable meat products have been developed by using a combination of hurdles (irradiation, reduced water activity, and vacuum packing). The effectiveness of these hurdles in preventing the growth of Clostridium sporogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus in these products was tested. Radiation sensitivity (D10 values) of S. aureus, C. sporogenes and B. cereus in intermediate moisture (IM) mutton kababs were found to be 0.36, 3.0 and 0.29 kGy respectively. Radiation treatment (2.5 kGy) resulted in complete elimination of inoculated 106 cfu of S. aureus and B. cereus but not of C. sporogenes. The water activity (aw) of 0.85 and vacuum packaging of products prevented the growth of all three organisms inoculated into these samples during 3 months of storage at room temperature. Irradiation usefully inactivated yeast and molds which otherwise grow in the kababs after 2 months of storage. Numbers of B. cereus decreased during storage. The studies demonstrated that a combination of the above hurdles result in microbiologically safe and shelf-stable meat products.