Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-12T14:47:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Sbardeloto Di _Domenico.pdf: 3233687 bytes, checksum: 1957cd3e9f309d6954a03c673b9b5592 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-28 / Brazil is one of the largest producers of grains, and maize is the second most produced grain in the country. As this cereal is directly related to human and animal food basis, many matters appear on the maintenance of their post-harvest quality, especially during storage, due to the increased attention to food safety. Despite this importance, maize is often stored on farms in inappropriate conditions, exposed to quantitative and qualitative losses, the development of toxigenic fungi and aflatoxin contamination, a substance capable of causing severe damage to human and animal health, as well as many agribusiness losses. The objective of this research was evaluating storage alternatives viable to farms through two storage experiments (2012 winter crop 2012/2013 summer harvests), for assessment of the quality of stored maize in different packings for 12 months. The experimental design was a 4 x 5 factorial, whose factors were four types of packaging storage (conventional sacks, bags hermetically sealed, metallic silo and cobs) and five time periods (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months). Two maize hybrids (2B688RR, 30K73Hx) cultivated in the region of the town of Dois Vizinhos were used, in the southwest of Paraná. The storage was conducted in ambient conditions and the following parameters were evaluated: water content, ash, protein, fat, grains without defects, volumetric weight, one-thousand grains weight, counting of Aspergillus sp, Fusarium sp, Penicillium sp, total of molds and yeasts and occurrence of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2). The results obtained in each experiment, when attended the presuppositions of the mathematical model, were evaluated by use of analysis of variance and differences between means (p<0.05) by Tukey test at 5% significance level, and when not attended them, by Kruskal-Wallis also at 5% significance level. Furthermore, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was done to determine which of the variables evaluated was responsible for the largest variations in the quality of stored maize. It was found in both storages that maize kernels placed in sealed bags presented the lowest water content. Also that regardless of packaging and hybrid maize, there were an increase in ash content of grains and the decrease of the percentage of grains without defects and volumetric weight. It was detected the incidence of Aspergillus sp. Fusarium sp. and Penicillium sp., respectively 20.37, 86.11 and 94.44% of the samples of maize season winter storage, and in 83.3, 91.6 and 90.07% of the samples from the summer season storage. Aspergillus sp. was only detected after 3 months of storage in the first experiment, while in the second since harvesting. The occurrence of Fusarium sp. tended to decrease during storage, and Penicillium sp. was higher in corn conditioning in cobs. There was no influence of types of packaging and storage time on the occurrence of Aspergillus sp. and aflatoxins in maize season winter storage. However, the conditioning in maize cobs of season storage summer had the lowest count of Aspergillus sp. and did not present aflatoxin. Aflatoxins (B1+B2+G1+G2) detected ranged from 2.77 to 14.45 &#956;g kg-1 and from 3.03 to 197.51 &#956;g kg-1 respectively in the maize storage winter and summer. Besides this, none of the samples of the first storage showed contamination higher than 20 &#956;g kg-1, while in the second 41 samples presented higher values. The results are due to the different climatic conditions of the periods of cultivation of hybrid maize (summer and winter seasons) and storage experiments, the disparity in the incidence of Aspergillus sp. and aflatoxin contamination. The conclusion is that by ACP all variables assessed in this study are important for the quality of stored maize. / O Brasil é um dos maiores produtores mundiais de grãos e o milho é o segundo grão mais produzido no país. Como este cereal está diretamente relacionado à base alimentar humana e animal, surgem muitas preocupações a respeito da manutenção de sua qualidade no pós-colheita, em especial ao longo do armazenamento, com aumento das atenções à segurança alimentar. Apesar disso, muitas vezes o milho é armazenado nas propriedades rurais, em condições inadequadas, exposto a perdas quantitativas e qualitativas, ao desenvolvimento de fungos toxigênicos e à contaminação por aflatoxinas, substância capaz de causar graves danos à saúde humana e animal, além de inúmeros prejuízos agropecuários. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar alternativas de armazenagem, viáveis a propriedades rurais, através de dois experimentos de armazenagem (safra de inverno 2012 e safra de verão 2012/2013), nos quais se avaliou a qualidade do milho armazenado em diferentes acondicionamentos, por 12 meses. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi um fatorial 4 x 5, cujos fatores foram quatro tipos de acondicionamentos de armazenagem (sacarias convencionais, bolsas seladas hermeticamente, silo metálico e espigas) e cinco períodos de tempo (0, 3, 6, 9 e 12 meses). Utilizaram-se dois híbridos de milho (2B688RR, 30K73Hx) cultivados na microrregião de Dois Vizinhos, sudoeste do Paraná. A armazenagem foi realizada em condições ambientais e os parâmetros avaliados foram: teor de água, cinzas, proteínas, lipídios, grãos sem defeitos, peso volumétrico, peso de mil grãos, contagem de Aspergillus sp., Fusarium sp., Penicillium sp., total de bolores e leveduras e ocorrência de aflatoxinas (B1, B2, G1 e G2). Os resultados obtidos em cada experimento, quando atendiam às pressuposições do modelo matemático, eram avaliados pelo emprego da análise de variância e as diferenças entre as médias (p < 0,05) pelo teste de Tukey, a 5% de significância, quando não, pelo teste de Kruskal-Wallis, também a 5% de significância. Além disso, realizou-se a análise dos componentes principais (ACP) para verificar quais das variáveis avaliadas, eram responsáveis pelas maiores variações na qualidade do milho armazenado. Verificou-se, em ambos os armazenamentos, que os grãos de milho acondicionados em bolsas herméticas apresentaram o menor teor de água. Independente do acondicionamento e do híbrido de milho houve aumento do conteúdo de cinzas dos grãos, redução da percentagem de grãos sem defeitos e do peso volumétrico. Constatou-se a incidência de Aspergillus sp., Fusarium sp. e Penicillium sp., respectivamente, em 20,37, 86,11 e 94,44% das amostras de milho do armazenamento safra de inverno; em 83,3, 91,6 e 90,07% das amostras do armazenamento safra de verão, respectivamente. O Aspergillus sp. foi detectado somente aos 3 meses de armazenagem no primeiro experimento, enquanto no segundo desde a colheita. A ocorrência de Fusarium sp. tendeu a diminuir durante a armazenagem e a de Penicillium sp. foi maior no milho acondicionado em espigas. Não houve influência dos tipos de acondicionamentos e do tempo de armazenagem na ocorrência de Aspergillus sp. e de aflatoxinas no milho do armazenamento safra de inverno. Já o milho acondicionado em espigas do armazenamento safra de verão apresentou a menor contagem de Aspergillus sp. e não apresentou aflatoxinas. Os níveis de aflatoxinas (B1+B2+G1+G2) detectados variaram de 2,87 a 14,45 &#956;g kg-1 e de 3,03 a 197,51 &#956;g kg-1, respectivamente no milho dos armazenamentos safra de inverno e safra de verão, além disso, nenhuma das amostras do primeiro armazenamento apresentou contaminação acima de 20 &#956;g kg-1. No segundo armazenamento, 41 amostras apresentaram contaminação. Resultados atribuídos, principalmente, às diferentes condições climáticas dos períodos de cultivo dos híbridos de milho (safra de verão e safra de inverno) e dos experimentos de armazenagem, a disparidade na incidência de Aspergillus sp. e na contaminação por aflatoxinas. Conclui-se, pela ACP, que todas as variáveis aferidas neste trabalho têm importância na qualidade do milho armazenado.

A segurança alimentar tem sido um tema cada vez mais importante das metas dos órgãos governamentais, não apenas no sentido de garantir que a população dos países tenha acesso a alimentos, mas que estes alimentos estejam dentro de padrões de qualidade nutricional e os limites de resíduos químicos ou microrganismos não causem prejuízos à saúde da população. A comparação entre as legislações existentes no Codex Alimentarius, nos Estados Unidos e no Reino Unido, sobre a maneira como os limites de segurança alimentar de praguicidas são obtidos, permitirá a obtenção de subsídios que, certamente, contribuirão para a construção de uma proposta para a avaliação deste risco no Brasil. A avaliação do risco da ingestão de resíduos de praguicidas presentes no alimento é feita pressupondo-se que Risco = f(toxicidade, exposição), onde a toxicidade é inerente ao praguicida, sendo determinada em estudos conduzidos em animais de laboratório. Já os dados de exposição são oriundos dos estudos de campo e de consumo dos alimentos. Países como os Estados Unidos e o Reino Unido, preconizam que a avaliação do risco deva ser feita por etapas, partindo do cenário mais restritivo e quando este se mostrar impeditivo, fazer um refinamento dos dados, considerando outros cenários de exposição para posterior tomada de decisão. No presente trabalho foram comparados dois praguicidas de uso autorizado no Brasil, nos Estados Unidos e no Reino Unido e que apresentam tolerância estabelecida pelo Codex Alimentarius. Foram utilizados os modelos de cálculo de cada entidade regulamentadora e obtidos os seguintes resultados: no Brasil o Clorpirifós atinge 41,03% da IDA, para as demais entidades o valor é inferior a 4,5% da IDA. No caso do Tebuconazol, observa-se que no Brasil o produto atinge 35, 17 % da IDA e nas demais instituições o valor é inferior a 8% da IDA. Diante dos resultados obtidos, temos que o critério adotado pelo governo brasileiro encontra-se distante da realidade, e embora o valor obtido no cálculo seja maior do que nas demais instituição, este não significa que a população brasileira está mais protegida do que as demais. Existe a necessidade de implementar o banco de dados brasileiro para que a avaliação do risco seja feita de forma mais adequada, possibilitando a geração de informações que suportem o gerenciamento do risco e viabilize medidas adequadas de mitigação deste risco, quando existente. Embora o Brasil seja um membro signatário do Codex Alimentarius muitos critérios e conceitos desta entidade não foram implementados pelo governo brasileiro. / Food safety is an important goal for governmental agencies, not only aiming access to food by populations in all countries, but also assume nutritional quality standards and limits of chemical residues or microorganisms that do not cause damages to the population. The comparison of existing legislations in the Codex Alimentarius, United States and United Kingdom in relation to the procedure on how pesticide limits of food safety are established will allow the attainment of subsidies that, certainly, will contribute for the elaboration of a proposal for risk evaluation in Brazil. Risk evaluation of the ingestion of pesticide residues in food is made estimating that Risk = f(toxicity, exposure), where the toxicity is inherent to the pesticide, and it is determined by animal assays a exposure data are derived from field studies and food consumption. United States and the United Kingdom, consider that risk evaluation must be established by stages, starting from the most restrictive cenario and when it is impeditive, it is necessary a refinement of the data, considering other exposure situations for final decision. ln the present work two pesticides of authorized use in Brazil had been compared, with the United States and the United Kingdom and with the tolerance established for the Codex Alimentarius. The models used for calculation showed that in Brazil, Chlorpyrifos reached 41.03% of the ADI , and the other institutions showed value below of 4,5% of the ADI. In the case of Tebuconazole it is observed that in Brazil the product reaches 35, 17 % of the ADI and in the other institutions the value was lower than 8% of the ADI. The results showed that the criterion adopted by the Brazilian government are unreal, and even if they are higher than the ones found by other institutions, they do not mean that the Brazilian population is more protected than the others. It is necessary to implement Brazilian data base in relation to food consumption so that the risk evaluation can be more reliable and consistent to allow an effective risk management, when needed. Although Brazil is a signatary member of the Codex Alimentarius many criteria and concepts of this entity had not been yet implemented by the government.

Revisão com o objetivo de analisar e comparar a legislação brasileira, nos aspectos de desenvolvimento, avaliação e comercialização dos alimentos funcionais, com a legislação dos países: Austrália, Canadá, Estados Unidos, Japão; da União Européia e a opinião do Codex Alimentarius. Separou-se e analisou-se a legislação desses alimentos em cinco partes: a) Definição legal; b) Regulamentação; c) Alegações; d) Procedimentos de comunicação das alegações; e) Critérios de avaliação da segurança e eficácia desses alimentos. Constatou-se que, dos países analisados, somente o Japão possui uma definição legal e uma regulamentação própria para essa categoria de produto e que o Canadá é o único país que apresenta uma norma clara e objetiva sobre a divulgação, nos meios de comunicação, dos alimentos com alegações. Verificou-se que existem diferentes tipos de definições e usos para as alegações, sendo algumas vezes equivalentes entre os países e outras não. Constatou-se que todos os países em estudo compartilham de alguns pontos comuns quanto aos critérios de avaliação, como: as alegações devem ser baseadas em estudos científicos relevantes; e o produto deve ser seguro sem a necessidade de supervisão médica. A Austrália, o Canadá, os Estados Unidos, a União Européia e o Reino Unido dispõem de guias de orientações bem explicativos sobre como as alegações devem ser avaliadas. Levando-se em conta as orientações fornecidas por esses documentos, elaborou-se uma sugestão de guia sobre os procedimentos/passos para se avaliar a segurança e a veracidade de uma alegação. / This is a review with the aim of analyzing and comparing Brazilian legislation relating to aspects of the development, evaluation and commercialization of functional foods, with that of Australia, Canada, the United States of America, Japan, and the European Union, and with the opinions expressed in the Codex Alimentarius. This food legislation was separated and analyzed in five distinct parts: a) The legal definition; b) Regulations; c) Claims; d) Procedures for communicating claims; and) Criteria for evaluating the security and effective of these foods. It was noticed that from all the analysed countries, only Japan has a legal definition and a regulation that fits sort of product and that Canada is the only country that has an objective and unambiguous norm on divulging the nutriments with claims among communication. With regard to claims, it was noticed that there are different types of definition and uses that sometimes have counterparts in other countries and sometimes not. In the part dealing with the evaluation criteria of these foods, it was noticed that all countries in the study have some points in common. Among these points are that the claims must be based on relevant scientific studies and that the product must be safe without the need for medical supervision. Australia, Canada, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom have very explicit guidelines regarding how the claims should be evaluated. Taking into consideration the guidelines supplied in these documents it was prepared a suggested guide for procedures/steps for evaluating the security and truth of the claims.

Objetivo: O trabalho visa comparar o abastecimento de frutas, legumes e verduras do Banco Municipal de Alimentos de Diadema durante o ano de 2007, para as creches, com a disponibilidade dos mesmos alimentos, em uma amostra de famílias obtida da Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares POF 2002-2003 da região metropolitana de São Paulo. Metodologia: Estudo descritivo transversal baseado em dados socioeconômicos das famílias das crianças, e em informações obtidas junto ao Banco de Alimentos de Diadema, além de utilizar a base de dados da POF 2002-2003. A análise fundamentou-se na aplicação de métodos de estatística descritiva. Resultados: A disponibilidade de alimentos do Banco é superior para verduras quando comparada ao padrão de aquisição da POF. Conclusão: A contribuição do programa é expressiva para população em situação de vulnerabilidade social. / The work aims to compare the supply of fruit, vegetables and legumes of the Municipal Food Bank of Diadema during the year 2007, for kindergartens, with the availability of such foods, using data from a sample of families obtained from the Search for Family Budgets POF 2002-2003 of the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo. Methodology: Cross descriptive study based on socioeconomic data from the childrens families, data obtained from the Food Bank of Diadema, in addition to using the database of POF 2002-2003. The analysis was based on the application of descriptive statistics methods. Results: the availability of food in the Food Bank is higher for vegetables when compared to POF. Conclusion: The contribution of the programme is significant for people in a situation of social vulnerability.

Water is critical for food production, food security, and health. Water quality management influences freshwater sustainability, land, and energy administration. Global agriculture accounts for more than 70% of all water consumption; the fertilizer, manure, and pesticide overspills are chief sources of water pollution worldwide. On a global scale, food-related waste directly impacts local food production and water resource management. The purpose of this multiple-case study on the food and beverage (FB) industry in the State of Georgia was to identify successful strategies for improving water management efficiency. The concepts of systems thinking, adaptive resource management, and integrated water resource management provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected via personal interviews with 2 global supply chain leaders in the FB industry and 1 water expert in the public water utility system in Georgia. The findings showed 10 themes: sustainability; mission-driven culture; ethical responsibility; water quality and governance; food safety and sanitation; water conservation and climatic trends; waste management; nutrition and the freeze drying method; knowledge sharing and collaboration; and water detention and retention systems. The study results are intended to contribute to social change by providing information to global supply chain leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and sustainability leaders to implement sustainability beyond the environmental value; these findings will also help achieve a positive posture on resource overconsumption and waste management for efficient and complex decision making within a worldwide spectrum.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Introduction: An observational study was undertaken to assess the level of compliance of school nutrition with standard hygiene requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999. Aim: To assess the level of compliance of Primary School Nutrition Programme with standard hygiene requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999 in Bushbuckridge area. Study: The study was conducted in primary schools located in Bushbuckridge sub-district with an estimated population of 611.048 and 212 primary schools. Method: Observational study was conducted in schools and information regarding food preparation area, food storage rooms, environmental hygiene, personal hygiene and food transportation was recorded. Sampling: A random sampling was conducted to select schools in each circuit. Thirty two percent was used to determine the sample size. Sixty eight primary schools of a population of 212 were select from the various circuits in Bushbuckridge sub-district. Data was gathered using observation method. An observation data gathering tool was developed to collect the data that was needed for the study. Results: The study revealed that 24.3% of the schools prepare their food in kitchens that meet the standards and the requirements prescribed by the health regulations. However, 75.7% of the schools prepare their food in structures that do not comply with the health regulations. The study on environmental hygiene revealed that 95.7% of the schools do not provide toiletries in their latrines most of which are not waterborne. The study further revealed that 87% of the schools do not provide soap for hand washing in their latrines. The study on personal hygiene revealed that 61.4% of the schools do not provide protective clothing to the food handlers who prepare food for learners. The study on food transportation revealed that 100% of the vehicles used to deliver food in schools do not comply with the standards and the hygiene requirements prescribed by the health regulations. Conclusion: It can thus be concluded that the level of compliance of the school nutrition programme to the standards and the requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999 is minimal. Measures of precautions to safeguard food contaminations that may result in outbreaks are not adequately followed. The level of environmental hygiene responsible for the spread of most of the diseases in children is poor. There is a high percentage of non-compliance to the standards and the requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999.

O consumo do pescado é importante para a saúde humana pelo fato desse alimento ser fonte de proteína de alta qualidade, vitaminas, nutrientes essenciais e dois ácidos poli-insaturados ômega-3. Entretanto, o pescado também pode apresentar risco à saúde humana se estiver contaminado por substâncias tóxicas. Visando avaliar o teor de elementos essenciais e tóxicos, foram utilizado as técnicas de Análise por Ativação Neutrônica e Espectrometria de Absorção Atômica na determinação dos elementos As, Br, Cd, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se e Zn nos tecidos comestíveis (filés) de seis pescados dentre os mais consumidos na cidade de São Paulo: corvina - Micropogonias furnieri (Desmarest, 1823); pescada - Cynoscion leiarchus (Cuvier, 1830); robalo - Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch, 1792); sardinha - Sardinella brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1879); anchova - Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766) e tainha - Mugil liza (Valenciennes, 1836). Para validar os métodos analíticos utilizados em relação à exatidão, foram utilizados o índice z e o valor de HorRat em materiais de referência certificados analisados sob as mesmas condições das amostras. Os elementos Br, K e Na foram determinados por duas modalidades de irradiação e o teste-t de Student foi utilizado para verificar se havia ou não diferença significativa entre as técnicas. Na determinação dos elementos essenciais e potencialmente tóxicos, foi possível a construção de banco de dados para os elementos Br, Cl, Co, Cs, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Se e Zn para potenciais futuras discussões. Para avaliar se havia ou não risco à segurança alimentar, foram comparado os teores de As, Cd, Hg e Pb com a legislação vigente no Brasil e com valores internacionais. Em relação à segurança alimentar, para os contaminantes Cd e Pb foram obtidos teores abaixo de todos os limites técnicos usados neste trabalho. Para As, a maior parte deve estar na forma orgânica, portanto, a determinação de Hg se mostrou determinante. De forma geral, não haveria perigo no consumo da sardinha, pescada, tainha, corvina e robalo, enquanto que para a anchova foi inconclusivo. / Fish consumption is important for human health because this food is a source of high-quality protein, vitamins, essential nutrients and two kinds of omega-3 polyunsaturated acids. However, fish consumption may present risk to human health if contaminated by toxic substances. With the aim of evaluating the content of essential and toxic elements, the techniques of Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry were used to determine As, Br, Cd, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se and Zn in the edible tissues (fillet) of six of the most consumed fishes at São Paulo city: whitemouth croaker - Micropogonias furnieri (Desmarest, 1823), smooth weakfish - Cynoscion leiarchus (Cuvier, 1830), common snook - Centropomus undecimalis (Bloch, 1792), Brazilian sardine - Sardinella brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1879), bluefish - Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766) and lebranche mullet - Mugil liza (Valenciennes, 1836). To validate the analytical methods for accuracy, z-score and HorRat values were applied to certified reference materials analyzed under the same conditions of samples. The elements Br, K and Na were determined by two irradiation modalities, and the Student\'s t-test was used to verify whether there were significant differences between the modalities. In the analysis of essential and potentially toxic elements, it was possible to create a database for Br, Cl, Co, Cs, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Se and Zn for potential future discussions. In order to assess food safety risks, the levels of As, Cd, Hg and Pb were compared with the Brazilians law and international values. Regarding food safety, Cd and Pb contents were bellow all technical limits used in this study. As for As, most part of this element may be in organic form, therefore the Hg analysis was determinant. In general, there would be no risk in the consumption of Brazilian sardine, smooth weakfish, lebranche mullet, whitemouth croaker and common snook, while for bluefish it was inconclusive.

<p>Avian Influenza (AI) is a contagious viral zoonotic disease with great public health implications and negative socioeconomic impact (WHO, 2006a). The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) infection is transmitted from birds to man mostly through contact with contaminated poultry and objects (INFOSAN, 2005), hence people who come in contact with birds such as live bird sellers (LBS) are the more vulnerable population (WHO, 2006a). Inadequate knowledge of AI health risks and poor practice of AI preventive measures amongst LBS increases the risk of spread of the infection in both humans and animals.The aim of this study was to describe and quantify the knowledge and practice of LBS with regards to avian influenza health risks and preventive activities in Agege, an urban area in Lagos State, Nigeria.</p>

There is significant interest by the food industry in applying milder processing conditions. A major area of research within predictive modelling has been the search for models which accurately predict the effect of combining multiple processes or hurdles. For a mild process, which has temperature as the major microbial injury step, the effect of the other combined hurdles in inhibiting growth of the injured organisms must be understood. The latter means that the inoculum size dependency of the time to growth must also be fully understood. This essentially links injury steps with the potential for growth. Herein, we have been developing the use of optical density (O.D) for obtaining growth rates and lag times using multiple inocula rather than using the traditional methods which use one single inoculum. All analyses were performed in the Bioscreen analyser which measures O.D. The time to detection (TTD) was defined as the time needed for each inoculum to reach an O.D=0.2 and O.D was related to microbial numbers with simple calibration curves. Several primary models were used to predict growth curves from O.D data and it was shown that the classic logistic, the Baranyi and the 3-phase linear model (3-PLM) were the most capable primary models of those examined while the modified Gompertz and modified logistic could not reproduce TTD data. Using the Malthusian approximation of the logistic model the effect of mild temperature shifts was studied. The data obtained showed that for mild temperature shifts, growth rates quickly changed to the new environment without the induction of lags. The growth of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli was studied at 30⁰C and/or 37⁰C, in different NaCl concentrations, pH and their combinations. The classical 3-parameter logistic with lag model was rearranged to provide the theoretical foundation for the observed TTD and accurate growth rates and lag times could be estimated. As the conditions became more unfavourable, the lag time increased while the growth rate decreased. Also, the growth rate was found to be independent from the inoculum size; the inoculum size affected only the TTD. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MICNaCl and MICpH) was calculated using the Lambert and Pearson model (LPM) and also the Growth/No Growth (G/NG) interface was determined using combinations of NaCl and pH. These data were transformed in rate to detection (RTD) and fitted with a response surface model (RSM) which was subsequently compared with the Extended LPM (ELPM). The LPM and the ELPM could analyse results from individual and combined inhibitors, respectively. Following a mild thermal process a lag due to thermal injury was also induced, the magnitude of which was dependent on the organism and environmental conditions; the observed distribution of the lags appeared, in general, to follow the Log-normal distribution. After the lag period due to injury, growth recommenced at the rate dictated by the growth environment present. Traditional growth curves were constructed and compared with the data obtained from the Bioscreen under the same conditions. From the results obtained, it can be suggested that the increased lag times and growth rates obtained from the traditional plate counts compared with the values obtained from the Bioscreen microbiological analyser, might be an artifact of the plating method or may be due to the use of the modified Gompertz to study the growth. In conclusion, O.D can be used to accurately determine growth parameters, to give a better understanding and quantify the G/NG interface and to examine a wealth of phenomena such as fluctuating temperatures and mild thermal treatments. The comparison between the traditional growth curves against the data obtained from the Bioscreen showed that the TTD method is a rapid, more accurate and cheaper method than the traditional plate count method which in combination with the models developed herein can offer new possibilities both to the research and the food industry.

No description available.