Modeling of Listeria innocua, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella Enteritidis inactivation in milk treated by gamma irradiation

Measuring microbial inactivation in food is useful for food technology as it allows for predicting the growth or death of microorganisms. This study aimed to investigate the effect of gamma irradiation on the lethality of microorganisms inoculated in milk, estimate the mathematical model of inactivation of each microorganism, and evaluate kinetic indices to determine the efficient dose in the treatment of milk. Raw milk samples were inoculated with cultures of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis (ATCC 13076), Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739), and Listeria innocua (ATCC 3309), irradiated at doses of 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 kGy. The fitting of the models to the microbial inactivation data was performed using the GinaFIT software. The results demonstrated a significant effect of irradiation doses on the population of microorganisms, with the application of a dose of 3 kGy, a reduction of approximately 6 logarithmic cycles is observed for L. innocua and 5 for S. Enteritidis and E. coli . The model with the best fit was different for each microorganism studied: for L. innocua , the model was log-linear + shoulder ; for S. Enteritidis and E. coli , the model that showed the best fit was the biphasic. The studied model fitted well ( R 2 ≥ 0.9; R 2 adj. ≥ 0.9 and smallest RMSE values) for the inactivation kinetics. The lethality of the treatment, considering a reduction in the 4D value, was achieved with the predicted dose of doses of ±2.22, ±2.10, and ±1.77 kGy, for L. innocua , S. Enteritidis, and E. coli , respectively.