Pathogen kinetics and heat and mass transfer-based predictive model for Listeria inocua in irregular-shaped poultry products during thermal processing

The increasing demand of ready-to-eat poultry products has led to serious concerns over product safety, and more emphasis has been placed on thorough cooking of products. In this study, processing conditions and thermal inactivation of Listeria innocua in chicken breast meats were evaluated during convection cooking in a pilot-plant scale air-steam impingement oven. A predictive model was developed by integrating heat and mass transfer models with a pathogen kinetics model to predict temperature, water content, product yield, and bacterial inactivation during air-steam impingement cooking. Skinless boneless chicken breasts were cooked at oven air temperatures of 177 and 200°C for 2 to 10 min at a humidity of 70 to 75% (moisture by volume) and an air velocity of 1 m/s at the exit of the nozzles. The reduction in Listeria in chicken breasts after 2 to 5 min of cooking was from 0.3 to 1.4 log CFU/g and from 0.8 to 1.8 log CFU/g at 177 and 200°C, respectively. After cooking for 10 min at both temperatures, no survivors were detected in any of the cooked chicken breasts from an initial bacterial concentration of 106 CFU/g. The standard errors of prediction for the endpoint center temperatures after 2 to 10 min of cooking were 2.8 and 3.0°C for air temperatures of 177 and 200°C, respectively. At 177 and 200°C, the median relative errors of prediction for water content were 2.5 and 3.7% and those for product yield were 5.4 and 8.4%, respectively. The developed model can be used as a tool to assist in evaluating thermal processing schedules for poultry products cooked in an air-steam impingement oven. Copyright ©, International Association for Food Protection.