Modelling pathogen thermal inactivation potential of two industrial processes for precooked meat patties: the case of Listeria monocytogenes

Meat patties obtained from chicken fed with animal fat (A) and vegetable fat (V) were deliberately inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes 12 hours before being processed according to innovative (I) and traditional (T) industrial flow charts. Survival data were modelled using the Weibull equation introducing the pasteurisation value concept in place of the Temperature, hence converting a non isothermal process into an isothermal-like one. The model used gave a good fitting of the experimental data and the curvature parameter was <1 in all the cases. Given the same meat origin, T industrial process was more efficient in deactivating L. monocytogenes than the innovative one. In the meat patties obtained from chicken fed with vegetable fat (V), L. monocytogenes was more sensitive to thermal inactivation particularly when the I process was adopted.