title: Survival of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 30 on inoculated almonds stored at -20, 4, 23, and 35 degrees C.
abstract: To evaluate the survival of Salmonella on raw almond surfaces, whole almond kernels were inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis phage type (PT) 30 collected from a 24-h broth culture or by scraping cells from an agar lawn. Kernels inoculated with lawn-collected cells to 8, 5, 3, and 1 log CFU per almond after a 24-h drying period were stored for 161 days at 23 +/- 3 degrees C. Calculated rates of reduction were similar for the four inoculum levels (0.22, 0.28, 0.29, and 0.22 log CFU/month, respectively). Kernels inoculated to 7.1 or 8.0 log CFU per almond after drying were stored for 171 or 550 days, respectively, at selected temperatures, including -20 +/- 2 degrees C, 4 +/- 2 degrees C, 23 +/- 3 degrees C, and 35 +/- 2 degrees C. No significant reductions of Salmonella were observed during storage at -20 and 4 degrees C over 550 days. At 35 degrees C, a biphasic survival curve was observed, with calculated reductions of 1.1 log CFU/month from days 0 to 59 and no significant reduction from days 59 to 171. At 23 degrees C, reductions of 0.18 and 0.30 log CFU/month were calculated for 171 and 550 days of storage, respectively. When combined with data from the study of inoculum levels, an overall average calculated reduction at 23 degrees C was 0.25 +/- 0.05 log CFU/month. Significantly greater reductions were observed during the 24-h drying period when broth-collected cells were used as the inoculum, suggesting that cells collected from agar lawns were more resistant to drying. However, after initial drying, the rates of reduction at 23 degrees C did not differ significantly between the inoculum preparation methods. Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 survives for long periods on almond kernels under a variety of commonstorage conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Aaron R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Uesugi
authors.forename: Michelle D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Danyluk
authors.forename: Linda J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D027861:Prunus / Q000382:microbiology*; D012477:Salmonella enteritidis / Q000254:growth & development*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors