Effect of microorganism characteristics on leak size critical to predicting package sterility.
The effects of microorganism size and motility on the leak size critical to the sterility of a package, along with the imposed pressure required to initiate liquid flow for the critical leak size, were measured. Pseudomonas fragi Lacy-1052, Bacillus atrophaeus ATCC 49337, and Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC 29007 were employed to assess package sterility. One hundred twenty-six 7-mm-long microtubes with interior diameters of 5, 10, and 20 microm were used to simulate package defects. Forty-two solid microtubes were used as controls. No significant differences were found between sizes or motility statuses of test organisms with respect to loss of sterility as a result of microbial ingress into test cells with microtube interior diameters of 5, 10, and 20 microm (P > 0.05). Interactions between the initiation of liquid flow as a result of applied threshold pressures and sterility loss for test cells were significant (P < 0.05).
D001407:Bacillus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology*; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D021902:Enterobacter aerogenes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D019649:Food Industry / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D005516:Food Microbiology; D018857:Food Packaging / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010316:Particle Size; D011312:Pressure; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D011786:Quality Control; D011897:Random Allocation; D013242:Sterilization