Behavior of Salmonella during fermentation, drying and storage of cocoa beans

Autor(es)

do Nascimento, Maristela da Silva ^[1] ; Pena, Pamela Oliveira ^[1] ; Brum, Daniela Merlo ^[1] ; Imazaki, Fabiana Taminato ^[1] ; Tucci, Maria Luiza SantAnna ^[2] ; Efraim, Priscilla ^[3]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Inst Food Technol, BR-13070178 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Agron Inst Campinas, BR-13001970 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Food Technol, BR-13035388 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: International Journal of Food Microbiology; v. 167, n. 3, p. 363-368, NOV 1 2013.
• Citações Web of Science: 5

Resumo

Due to cocoa being considered a possible source of Salmonella contamination in chocolate, the behavior of Salmonella during some cocoa pre-processing stages (fermentation, drying and storage) was investigated. The fermentation process was carried out on a pilot scale (2 kg beans/box) for 7 days. Every day a fermentation box was inoculated with a Salmonella pool (ca. 4 log MPN/g). The results showed that Salmonella did not affect (P > 0.05) the growth of the main microorganism groups involved in cocoa fermentation. On the other hand, the pathogen was influenced (P < 0.05) by yeast, acetic add bacteria and pH. In spite of Salmonella showing counts <= 1 log MPN/g in the first days, at the end of fermentation it grew in all samples, reaching counts as high as 7.49 log MPN/g. For drying and storage, cocoa beans were inoculated during the fermentation (experiment A) or during the drying (experiment B). In these stages the decline of the water activity affected the pathogen behavior. In experiment A during the drying, Salmonella count increased in most of the samples. In experiment B either a slight growth or no growth in the samples inoculated up to 48 h was observed, whereas the other samples showed reductions from the initial count. After 30 days of storage at room temperature, the water activity decreased to 0.68, and reductions of Salmonella ranged from 0.93 to 2.52 log MPN/g. Despite the reductions observed during the storage, the pathogen was detected even after 120 days. Therefore, the results showed that Salmonella growth or survival depends on when the contamination occurs. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 09/11406-2 - Avaliação do comportamento de Salmonella artificialmente inoculada em diferentes etapas do processamento do cacau
• Beneficiário: Maristela da Silva Do Nascimento
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular