Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal inactivation of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores under conditions simulating industrial heating processes of tangerine vesicles and its use in time temperature integrators

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Food Research and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to characterize the thermal inactivation of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions simulating industrial heating processes applied to tangerine vesicles. A microbiological time temperature integrator (TTI) suitable for estimating the severity of thermal processes applied to acid foods was also developed. The heat resistance of A. acidoterrestris was characterized by D 105 °C = 0.63 min and z = 10.8 °C in tangerine juice, showing linear survival curves, without shoulders and tails. Under non-isothermal conditions, the use of isothermal data allowed for an accurate prediction of the inactivation. The spores were included in alginate TTIs and they were used to estimate the severity of thermal treatments applied both in a thermoresistometer Mastia and in a food pilot plant scale system, which allows fast heating of the product to 93 °C and then a short holding time (2 min). In the thermoresistometer, tangerine juice was used as heating medium. In the food pilot plant scale system, thermal treatments were applied in batch to unpackaged tangerine vesicles. In both equipments, the TTIs accurately predicted the lethality of the thermal treatments applied. The percent coefficients of variation for survivor counting in TTIs showed that distribution of heat is homogeneous both in the thermoresistometer and in the reactor, being lower than 10% in all cases. The logistic and normal distributions were found to be the best for fitting the different survivor datasets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Feliciotti E, Esselen WB (1957) Thermal destruction rates of thiamine in puréed meats and vegetables. Food Technol 11:77–84

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Stumbo CR (1973) Thermobacteriology in food processing, 2nd edn. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  3. García P (2006) Optimización y modelización del procesado aséptico HTST (High Temperature Short Time) y su aplicación al cremogenado de fresa. PhD thesis. Technical University of Cartagena, Cartagena

  4. van Zuijlen A, Periago PM, Amézquita A, Palop A, Brul S, Fernández PS (2010) Characterization of Bacillus sporothermodurans IC4 spores; putative indicator microorganism for optimization of thermal processes in food sterilization. Food Res Int 43:1895–1901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Martínez A, Rodrigo D, Fernández PS, Ocio MJ (2006) Time-temperature integrators for thermal process evaluation. In: Sun DW (ed) Thermal food processing. New technologies and quality issues. CRC Press, Boca Raton FL

  6. van Loey A, Haentjens T, Scout C, Hendrickx E (1999) Enzymic time-temperature integrators for the quantification of thermal process in terms of food safety. In: Oliveira FAR, Oliveira JC (eds) Processing foods. CRC Press, London

  7. Brown KL, Ayres CA, Gaze JE, Newman ME (1984) Thermal destruction of bacterial spores immobilized in food alginate particles. Food Microbiol 1:187–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Dallyn H, Falloon WC, Bean PG (1977) Method for the immobilization of bacterial spores in alginate gel. Lab Practice 26:773–775

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ocio MJ, Fernández PS, Rodrigo F, Periago P, Martínez A (1997) A time temperature integrator for particulated foods: thermal process evaluation. Z Lebensm Unters Forsch 205:325–328

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pflug IJ, Odlaug TE (1986) Biological indicators in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. J Parenter Sci Technol 40:242–248

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Pettipher GL, Osmundson ME, Murphy JM (1997) Methods for the detection and enumeration of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris and investigation of growth and production of taint in fruit juices and fruit juice-containing drinks. Lett Appl Microbiol 24:185–189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Splittstoesser DF, Lee CY, Churey JJ (1998) Control of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in the juice industry. Dairy Food Environ Sanitation 18:585–587

    Google Scholar 

  13. Conesa R, Andreu S, Fernández PS, Esnoz A, Palop A (2009) Non-isothermal heat resistance determinations with the thermoresistometer Mastia. J Appl Microbiol 107:506–513

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Silva VM, Gibbs P (2001) Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spore in fruit products and design of pasteurisation processes. Trends Food Sci Technol 12:68–74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Durak MZ, Churey JJ, Danyluk MD, Worobo MW (2010) Identification and haplotype distribution of Alicyclobacillus spp. from different juices and beverages. Int J Food Microbiol 142:286–291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Wisse CA, Parish ME (1998) Isolation and enumeration of sporeforming, thermoacidophilic, rod-shaped bacteria from citrus processing environments. Dairy Food Environ Sanitation 18:504–509

    Google Scholar 

  17. Dawson RMC, Elliot DC, Elliot WH, Jones KM (1974) Data for biochemical research. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  18. Francois K, Devlieghere F, Smet K, Standaert AR, Geeraerd AH, Van Impe JF, Debevere J (2005) Modeling the individual cell lag phase: effect of temperature and pH on the individual cell lag distribution of Listeria monocytogenes. Int J Food Microbiol 100:41–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Ceviz G, Tulek Y, Con AH (2009) Thermal resistance of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores in different heating media. Int J Food Sci Technol 44:1770–1777

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Eiroa MNU, Junqueira VCA, Schmidt FL (1999) Alicyclobacillus in orange juice: occurrence and heat resistance of spores. J Food Prot 62:883–886

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Komitopoulou E, Boziaris IS, Davies EA, Delves-Broughton J, Adams MR (1999) Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris in fruit juices and its control by nisin. Int J Food Sci Technol 34:81–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Pontius AJ, Rushing JE, Foegeding PM (1998) Heat resistance of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores as affected by various pH values and organic acids. J Food Prot 61:41–46

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Silva FM, Gibbs P, Vieira MC, Silva CLM (1999) Thermal inactivation of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores under different temperature, soluble solids and pH conditions for the design of fruit processes. Int J Food Microbiol 51:95–103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Yamakazi K, Isoda C, Tedzuka H, Hawai Y, Shinano H (1997) Thermal resistance and prevention of spoilage bacterium, Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris, in acidic beverages. J Jpn Soc Food Sci Technol 44:905–911

    Google Scholar 

  25. Bahçeci KS, Acar J (2007) Modeling the combined effects of pH, temperature and ascorbic acid concentration on the heat resistance of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris. Int J Food Microbiol 120:266–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Cameron MS, Leonard SJ, Barret EL (1980) Effects of moderately acidic pH on heat resistance of Clostridium sporogenes spores in phosphate buffer and in buffered pea puree. Appl Environ Microbiol 39:943–949

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Ocio MJ, Sánchez T, Fernández PS, Rodrigo M, Martínez A (1994) Thermal resistance characteristics of PA3679 in the temperature range of 110–121 °C as affected by pH, type of acidulant and substrate. Int J Food Microbiol 22:239–247

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Palop A, Raso J, Pagán R, Condón S, Sala FJ (1999) Influence of pH on the heat resistance of Bacillus coagulans in buffer and homogenised foods. Int J Food Microbiol 46:243–249

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Duffy S, Churey J, Worobo RW, Schaffner DW (2000) Analysis and modeling of the variability associated with UV inactivation of Escherichia coli in apple cider. J Food Prot 63:1587–1590

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of the Spanish Government and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) through Project AGL-2006-10280.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Technology, Food and Canning National Technology Centre, C/Concordia s/n, Molina de Segura, 30500, Murcia, Spain

    María-Dolores López & Presentación García

  2. Department of Food Engineering and Agricultural Machinery, Technical University of Cartagena, Pº Alfonso XIII. 48, 30203, Cartagena, Spain

    Marina Muñoz-Cuevas, Pablo S. Fernández & Alfredo Palop

Authors
  1. María-Dolores López
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Presentación García
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marina Muñoz-Cuevas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pablo S. Fernández
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Alfredo Palop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alfredo Palop.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

López, MD., García, P., Muñoz-Cuevas, M. et al. Thermal inactivation of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores under conditions simulating industrial heating processes of tangerine vesicles and its use in time temperature integrators. Eur Food Res Technol 232, 821–827 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-011-1449-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-011-1449-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation