Application of Quantitative Microbiology and Challenge Tests to Reach a Suggested Food Safety Objective in a Middle Eastern-Style Ready-to-Cook Chicken Product

The contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) and ready-to-cook (RTC) food products is a major global issue raising worry to consumers. Therefore, the behavior of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp., inoculated on a traditional Middle Eastern (M.E.) ready-to-cook (RTC) chicken product (“Taouk”-style), using the Risk Ranger(®) tool and the necessary management options (to accomplish the hypothetical food safety objectives (FSO)), when unsuspecting consumers may taste such a product were the primary subjects of our study. The behavior of the aforementioned pathogens was studied in the presence and absence of a selected natural antimicrobial combination (chitosan [CH] and thyme oil [T]), and were added as a combined treatment (M-CH-T) to the RTs chicken samples, stored at 4 or 8 °C for a period of 8 d. In the product, wherein no antimicrobials were added (control treatment, M), the initial counts of L. monocytogenes increased by ca. 1.5 (4 °C) and 3.0 (8 °C) log colony-forming units (CFU)/g during an 8-d storage. Salmonella spp. numbers did not increase during storage at 4 °C in the non-treated product, but at 8 °C, an increase of ca. 2.5 log CFU/g occurred. Addition of CH in combination with T to the RTC product (M-CH-T) inhibited the growth of L. monocytogenes and produced lower counts of Salmonella at 4 °C. However, M-CH-T treatment was less effective against both pathogens compared to the control after the 6th day of storage (8 °C). Predictive models based on quantitative microbiology, combined with hazard identification applied in the present study, may be potential means of assessing the safety of the RTC chicken products. It must be noted that for warranting the food safety of especially perishable items (e.g., chicken products), an efficient food safety management system must be applied, in addition to testing of the finished product, (e.g., based on the HACCP principles).