ABSTRACTThe growing complexity of institutional feeding systems presents challenges for protection against post‐cooking microbial contamination. Satellite feeding systems, which commonly involve prolonged holding of cooked foods, increase the potential hazards originating from microbial contaminants. To study the fate of post‐cooking contaminants,Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureusandClostridium perfringenswere grown as broth cultures and applied to the surfaces of foods. Cooking relatively heavily contaminated ground meat reduced the natural microbial load to a very low count. The resistant flora consisted of vegetative cells andBacillusspores. The count in the cooked food did not increase after each step in the sequence of treatments involving freezing, warming and holding warm or at room temperature for as much as six hours. Surface inoculated meat loaf and peas were held at 50° or 60°C for up to 2 hr with periodic plate counts using selective media to determine the fate of the specific bacteria being studied. Survival of surface inocula was attributed to surface evaporation cooling the lodgment of bacteria. Covering food with a polyethylene film retarded surface evaporation and increased destruction of surface contami
展开▼
