MODELLING OF TEMPERATURE, WATER ACTIVITY AND MICROBIAL GROWTH ON THE SURFACE OF A PORK LEG DURING REFRIGERATED TRANSPORTATION

摘要

European regulation previously imposed to slaughterhouses that pork carcasses must be chilled immediately to ensure a core meat temperature below 7°C before future handling operation. Recently the regulation was amended and offers the opportunity to transport carcasses with a core temperature > 7°C from the slaughterhouse to the cutting plants but with continuous refrigeration during their transportation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the regulation modification on the microbial growth on the carcasses surface. First, the heat and mass transfer during refrigerated truck transportation were predicted using a 3D pork leg model. Predicted temperature and water activity of the carcasses surface were then used to evaluate microbial growth on the surface. The obtained results showed that in the studied conditions, the leg reached the required temperature (< 7°C) at the core after 10 hours of transportation. Small change in water content/activity was observed. Based on the proposed predictive microbiology model, the maximum microbial load increase was 2.5 log_(10) after 30 hours of transportation.