PATHOGENS ARE A COMMON PROBLEM IN DRY FOODS, SUCH AS PEANUTS, WHICH CAUSE FOODBORNE ILLNESS OUTBREAKS. FOODBORNE ILLNESSOUTBREAKS HAVE AN ADVERSE IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY DUE TO LOST WORK TIME FROM SICK WORKERS, MEDICAL EXPENSES TO TREAT ILLNESSES,AND PRODUCT LOSS AND BRAND DAMAGE TO PROCESSORS. THIS CAN BE PARTICULARLY DETRIMENTAL TO SMALL PROCESSORS. ONE WAY TO HELPREDUCE POTENTIAL FOR FOODBORNE ILLNESS OUTBREAKS IS TO VALIDATE THERMAL PROCESSES FOR PATHOGEN REDUCTION, WHICH CAN BE ACHIEVEDWITH MATHEMATICAL MODELING. ACCURATE MODELS THAT ARE BASED ON MEASURED VARIABLES AND PHYSICAL PHENOMENA ARE FLEXIBLEBECAUSE AS THE CONDITION CHANGES, THE MODEL CAN BE UPDATED TO MATCH THAT CONDITION. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP AND VALIDATEA MODEL FOR A PATHOGENIC SURROGATE, ENTEROCOCCUS FAECIUM, IN PEANUTS, BASED ON FUNDAMENTAL SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF HEAT ANDMASS TRANSFER. FIRST, A HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER MODEL WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR PEANUTS UNDER TYPICAL ROASTING CONDITIONS. THIS MODELWILL USE THERMAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF PEANUTS AS INPUTS AND WILL PROVIDE SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE PROFILES ASOUTPUTS. THE MODEL WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR A SINGLE PEANUT, AND THEN SCALED UP TO A THICKER LAYER WITH MULTIPLE PEANUTS. THEN,PEANUTS INOCULATED WITH E. FAECIUM WILL BE TREATED AT MULTIPLE TEMPERATURES (121, 149, AND 177°C) AND AIR VELOCITIES (0.75 AND1.25 M/S). SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF THE SAMPLES WILL BE MONITORED DURING THE HEATING PROCESS, AND MOISTURE CONTENT, WATERACTIVITY, AND E. FAECIUM SURVIVORS WILL BE MEASURED AFTER HEATING. THESE TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE CURVES WILL BE COMPARED TOTHOSE DEVELOPED WITH THE HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER MODEL. FINALLY, THE MODELS WILL BE SCALED UP AND VALIDATED AT THE COMMERCIALSCALE. BOTH INOCULATED SAMPLES AND TEMPERATURE PROFILES OF PEANUTS WILL BE USED FROM A COMMERCIAL-SCALE ROASTER. A STATISTICALDISTRIBUTION OF E. FAECIUM REDUCTION WILL BE USED IN A RISK MODEL FOR SALMONELLOSIS RISK FROM PEANUTS TO DETERMINE THE RISK FOR THEROASTER TESTED. THIS PROJECT WILL HELP ADVANCE RISK-BASED VALIDATION METHODS BY PROVIDING FLEXIBLE MODELING TOOLS FOR PROCESSORSTO USE IN VALIDATING THEIR PROCESSES. ADDITIONALLY, THIS STUDY WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE INSIGHT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF DRY ROASTERS OVERTIME WITH LONGITUDINAL TEMPERATURE DATA THAT CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO MICROBIAL INACTIVATION, POTENTIALLY HELPING TO REDUCE THE BURDENOF PAYING FOR VALIDATION EACH YEAR. THIS PROJECT WILL HELP PROCESSORS UNDERSTAND HOW TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FOODBORNE ILLNESSES INDRY FOODS.

University Of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

Investigators