89D-23 |
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T. SIVAROOBAN1, N. S. Hettiarachchy1, S. Elser1, and M. G. Johnson. (1) Dept. of Food Science, Univ. of Arkansas, 2650, N. Young Ave, Fayetteville, AR 72704 The consumption of refrigerated, ready-to-eat (RTE) foods can cause illness, death, and great economic loss to the food industry if such food becomes contaminated with a food-borne pathogen. One of the most threatening pathogens that has caused numerous outbreaks is Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes). There is an increasing demand in the food industry to produce safer, more convenient foods with a longer shelf life. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of green tea hot-water extract to inhibit L. monocytogenes on the surface of green tea extract (GTE) treated cooked RTE chicken breast meat stored at 4 oC. Testing has been conducted with surface inoculation (10^2, 10^4, and 10^6 CFU/ml) of L. monocytogenes (strain V7, serotype 1/2a) onto 1 g pieces of cooked chicken breast meat and dipped into green tea extract (1 min). The surface treated individual meat pieces were dried under hood, packed and stored at 4 oC. Water controls and uninoculated controls were also included. The enumeration of viable counts (CFU/g) was performed for 0, 3, 5, and 7 days by spread plating with serially diluted samples on Oxford listeria selective agar medium and incubating for 48 h at 37 oC. L. monocytogenes population was reduced to undetectable, 2.6 and 2.4 log CFU/ml for samples inoculated with 102, 104, and 106 CFU/ml respectively, after 7 days incubation at 4 oC. These can lead to the development of useful intervention strategy utilizing natural green tea extract to effectively control L. monocytogenes on cooked, ready-to-eat meat products including chicken breast and thigh meat, and beef.
Session 89D, Food Microbiology: Antimicrobial effects on foodborne microorganisms
2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana |