14) Microbial Spoilage and Public Health Concerns Flashcards
spoiled food isn’t necessarily ___
unsafe
why is it important to understand the causes of microbial spoilage?
to minimize losses and provide high quality food supply w/ adequate shelf life
why do meat, poultry and seafood susceptible for microbial growth?
- they are rich in nutrients which supports growth of bacterial pathogens and microbial growth
- they are “muscle foods”
how do meat, poultry and seafood differ?
1) they have different “original” microbiotas, which leads to diff succession of microbial spoilage bacteria
2) different handling and storage requirements, which leads to diff microbial succession
compare muscle tissues of health living animals to slaughtered animals
live animals: assumed that bacteria is absent or undetectable
slaughtered animals: can have deposited bacteria or contamination from natural or external origins
describe natural and external contamination sources
natural: originating from animal
external: originating from processing equipment
the abundance of microbes on food depends on what?
1) type of animal
2) hygiene of processing facility
what is the first event in contamination?
attachment of bacterial cells to the meat surface
which bacteria is considered to be best at attaching onto meat surface?
pseudomonas
what is the best way to preserve meat?
have a clean processing facility so minimal bacteria will attach to meat surface
what are biofilms?
why is it a problem?
- major issue in food processing
- can form on almost any surface and will persist extensive cleaning for years
- once formed, bacteria in biofilms can be x10 or x100 more resistant to sanitizers
what affects microbial succession?
1) conditions of slaughter
2) decontamination
3) storage
what MOs will mostly dominate food? under what conditions?
1) Enterobactericeae in aerobic conditions
2) LAB in anaerobic vacuum packaged pdts
how do microbial interactions affect microbial succession?
how does this occur with psudomonas?
- by competing for nutrients
- producing favorable or unfavorable environments for each other
- quorum sensing
pseudomonas. ..
- inhibits Shewanella and promotes Listeria
- utilizes glucose and promotes siderophores at higher rates than Shewanella
- hydrolyses proteins and provides AAs to listeria
define spoilage
consumers rejecting a food based on undesirable sensory characteristics
spoilage results in what?
- off-flavors, off-odors, off-textures, discoloration, slime
how does proteolytic and non-proteolytic spoilage affect odors?
proteolytic: putrid odors due to breakdown of AAs
non-proteolytic spoilage: sour odors
spoilage of canned foods is usually due to what?
what does it result in?
due to improper process control
results in proliferation on mesophilic spore formers
what is the energy source of spoilage bacteria?
how is this affected by different levels of O2?
glucose
with aerobic bacteria (eg. pseudomonas): metabolizes glucose faster
with facultative anaerobes (eg. Shewanella putrefaciens): metabolizes glucose slower
thus, when O2 is present, pseudomonas predominates spoilage
after glucose, what is the next primary energy source?
lactate
after glucose and lactose, what is the next energy source?
what is the result of this?
AAs
results in proteolysis becoming more evident (seen by slime, sulfur and ammonia odors)
what is the exception with crustaceans?
- their hepatopancreas has endogenous tissue enzymes that cause rapid postmortem muscle breakdown, which is independent of microbial proteases
- reason for why lobsters, crabs and crayfish are kept alive until cooking
why is it difficult to evaluate freshness?
since the definition of spoiled depends on many factors (food, preservation interventions, geography, etc…)
what is the best way to evaluate freshness of spoiled meat? why are problems with this?
what is another method?
sensory evaluation
problems
- requires trained experts
- can be very subjective
or microbiological analysis
problems:
- very general
- destructive process
ideal spoilage indicator should…. (4)
- be absent or present in very low levels in fresh tissue
- be produced by spoilage microflora
- increase /w storage time
- correlate well with sensory analysis
what is AMR?
antimicrobial resistance