Modeling the Combined Effect of Pressure and Mild Heat on the Inactivation Kinetics of Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, and Staphylococcus aureus in Black Tiger Shrimp (Penaeus monodon)

The high-pressure inactivation of Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, and Staphylococcus aureus was studied in black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). The processing parameters examined included pressure (300 to 600 MPa) and temperature (30 to 50°C). In addition, the pressure-hold period (0 to 15 min) was investigated, thus allowing both single-pulse pressure effects (i.e., zero holding time) and pressure-hold effects to be explored. E. coli was found to be the most sensitive strain to single-pulse pressure, followed by L. innocua and lastly S. aureus. Higher pressures and temperatures resulted in higher destruction rates, and the value of the shape parameter (β′) accounted for the downward concavity (β′ > 1) of the survival curves. A simplified Weibull model described the non-linearity of the survival curves for the changes in the pressure-hold period well, and it was comparable to the original Weibull model. The regression coefficients (R(2)), root mean square error (RMSE), accuracy factor (A(f)), bias factor (B(f)), and residual plots suggested that using linear models to represent the data was not as appropriate as using non-linear models. However, linear models produced good fits for some pressure–temperature combinations. Analogous to their use in thermal death kinetics, activation volume (V(a)) and activation energy (E(a)) can be used to describe the pressure and temperature dependencies of the scale parameter (δ, min), respectively. The V(a) and E(a) values showed that high pressure and temperaturefavored the inactivation process, and S. aureus was the most baro-resistant pathogen.