Fundamental Food Microbiology, Third Edition - Fuad Fathir

INDICATORS OF MICROBIAL FOOD SPOILAGE 319
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REFERENCES
1. Kraft, A.A., Psychrotrophic Bacteria in Foods: Diseases and Spoilage, CRC Press,
Boca Raton, FL, 1992, p. 121.
2. Gill, C.O., Meat spoilage and evaluation of the potential storage life of fresh meat,
J. Food Prot., 46, 444, 1983.
3. Suhren, G., Producer microorganisms, in Enzymes of Psychrotrophs in Raw Foods,
McKellar, R.C., Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1989, p. 3.
4. Tompkin, R.B., Indicator organisms in meat and poultry products, Food Technol.,
37(6), 107, 1983.
5. Fairbairn, D., Assay methods for proteinases, in Enzymes of Psychrotrophs in Raw
Foods, McKellar, R.C., Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1989, p. 189.
6. Stead, D., Assay methods for lipases and phospholipases, in Enzymes of Psychrotrophs
in Raw Foods, McKellar, R.C., Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1989, 173.
QUESTIONS
1. List the factors to be considered in selecting indicators of food spoilage.
2. List two spoilage aspects that a suitable food spoilage indicator should indicate
to prevent loss of a food by spoilage. Explain why different indicators need to be
selected for different groups of foods.
3. Suggest and justify suitable microbial spoilage indicators for (a) tray-packed raw
sausage; (b) vacuum-packaged, low-fat, refrigerated ground turkey; (c) fish fillet
kept over ice in air; (d) salsa in a bottle stored at room temperature; (e) ready-toeat
baby carrots, ready-to-eat salads, and sprouts of seeds packaged aerobically
in bags and stored at ca. 15�C; and (f) cut fruits in aerobically packaged containers
at 15�C (consult Chapter 19).
4. List four chemical methods that can be used to detect spoilage of fresh meat stored
at refrigerated temperature under aerobic conditions.
5. Explain how pH changes in fresh meats can be used as an indicator of spoilage.
How is it related to WHC and ERV?
6. What promises does genome-based nanotechnology hold for the future to detect
microbial spoilage potential of a food?