Inactivation kinetics of food-borne pathogens subjected to thermal treatments: a review

Abstract

Thermal processing technologies are safe and easy to control methods without leaving residues, and could be used to inactivate food-borne pathogens, ensure food quality and provide the food with sufficient stability during storage. Establishing inactivation kinetics of food-borne pathogens is essential in developing effective pasteurisation protocols without damaging food quality. This study presents a comprehensive review of recent progresses in inactivation kinetics of food-borne pathogens. It covers theoretical bases and experimental methods for developing thermal inactivation kinetics of food-borne pathogens and making comparisons and applications of the common thermal death kinetic models. Finally, it proposes possible recommendations on the future research directions of establishing inactivation kinetic models for food-borne pathogens in thermal processing.

Keywords:

• Experimental methods
• food-borne pathogens
• food safety
• inactivation kinetic model
• thermal processing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by General Program of National Natural Science Foundation in China (31371853, 31772031) and National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0401004, 2017YFD0400900).