Abstract:

In this study, the growth models of Pseudomonas, one of the specific spoilage organisms, in chilled beef during storage at different temperatures in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) environment were developed by Matlab7.0 to obtain Gompertz model parameters. A secondary model describing the growth of this specific spoilage organism and a kinetic growth model with temperature as the independent variable following the response surface and the square root equations, respectively, were constructed so as to validate the kinetic growth model at low temperatures ranging from 0 to 10 ℃. All the constructed Gompertz model displayed a correlation coefficient exceeding 0.99. The bias factor and accuracy of the secondary model were both between 0.90 and 1.05. These data demonstrate that the constructed primary and secondary models can both effectively predict the growth situation of Pseudomonas in chilled beef during storage in MAP environment at a temperature varying from 0 to 10 ℃.

Key words: chilling beef, modified atmosphere packaging, prediction model, specific spoilage organisms, Pseudomonas spp.