Application of electron beam irradiation and mild thermal treatment of Bacillus cereus spores in Chinese braised beef cuisine

ABSTRACT

The individual and combined effects of electron beam (EB) irradiation and thermal treatments were investigated on Chinese braised beef samples inoculated with Bacillus cereus spores. Log reductions of 1.19, 2.10, and 3.62 log CFU/g were recorded for B. cereus spores after 6, 9, and 12 kGy lone EB doses, respectively. An 85°C thermal treatment at 20 min (H) reduced the spores population by 1.03 log CFU/g. The combination of the thermal and EB irradiation treatments (HEB) of HEB-6 and HEB-9 achieved 1.69 and 2.89 log CFU/g reductions, respectively. The B. cereus spores population was depleted to below the detection limit following HEB-12 treatment. No significant pH change was observed in the treatments except for HEB-12. The hurdle treatment of HEB-12 caused marked changes in color, aroma, and overall acceptability. Although HEB irradiation improved microbial safety, careful selection of approved EB doses can effectively enhance food safety and maintain reasonable quality standards.

KEYWORDS:

• Ionizing radiation
• food pathogen
• sequential hurdle technique
• Chinese cuisine
• thermal inactivation

Acknowledgment

This study is financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China (LR21C200002). The authors are very grateful to Dr Liangyan Wang for assisting in equipment operation.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China [LR21C200002].