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Due to the special importance of food in the emergence of acute intestinal infectious diseases and bacterial food poisoning, special attention is paid to the microbiological purity monitoring of food raw materials and food products. Ionizing radiation processing of food – is a promising technology for combating both microorganisms causing spoilage and pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms – pathogens of dangerous diseases. However, work with vegetative forms of these microorganisms to study the effects of ionizing radiation is difficult because of the need to use in experiments only actively growing culture, which is sensitive to various environmental factors. When studying the effect of ionizing radiation on the microflora of food products, this study describes the investigation of the possibility of using as a test-culture the ascospores of the fungus Aspergillus fischeri instead of vegetative forms of pathogenic and opportunistic cultures. Ascospores of the fungus Aspergillus fischeri are used as a test culture in the development of pasteurization regimes of fruit and vegetable products. A. fischeri ascospores have been shown to have higher resistance to ionizing radiation in the range from 1 to 5 kGy at capacity 10 MeV in comparison with Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes cells. Therefore, in the development of ionizing radiation food processing regimes it is recommended to use ascospores of the fungus A. fischeri as a test culture instead of vegetative forms of bacteria.

Microbial death kinetics modelling is an integral stage of developing the food thermal sterilisation regimes. At present, a large number of models have been developed. Their properties are usually being accepted as adequate even beyond boundaries of experimental microbiological data zone. The wide range of primary models existence implies the lack of universality of each ones. This paper presents a comparative assessment of linear and nonlinear models of microbial death kinetics during the heat treatment of the Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spore form. The research allowed finding that single-phase primary models (as adjustable functions) are statistically acceptable for approximation of the experimental data: linear – the Bigelow’ the Bigelow as modified by Arrhenius and the Whiting-Buchanan models; and nonlinear – the Weibull, the Fermi, the Kamau, the Membre and the Augustin models. The analysis of them established a high degree of variability for extrapolative characteristics and, as a result, a marked empirical character of adjustable functions, i.e. unsatisfactory convergence of results for different models. This is presumably conditioned by the particularity and, in some cases, phenomenology of the functions themselves. Consequently, there is no reason to believe that the heat treatment regimes, developed on the basis of any of these empirical models, are the most effective. This analysis is the first link in arguing the necessity to initiate the research aimed at developing a new methodology for determining the regimes of food thermal sterilisation based on analysis of the fundamental factors such as ones defined spore germination activation and their resistance to external impact.

Kinetic studies of the thermal inactivation of test crop spores are necessary to develop optimal heat treatment regimes for fruit juices. The purpose of the work is to study the dynamics of changes in the thermal stability parameters DT and z depending on changes in the soluble solids content in canned fruit products using the example of certain types of apple juice products with a pH of 3.80. The regularity of thermal inactivation of ascospores of the mesophilic mold Aspergillus fischeri in concentrated apple juice (JAC) with a soluble dry matter (RSV) content of 70%, in restored apple juice with RSV – 11.2%, and in restored apple juice with pulp with RSV – 16% was studied. The parameters of thermal stability were determined by the capillary method at temperatures of 80, 85, 90, and 95 °C. It was experimentally established that the heat resistance of A. fischeri spores in clarified apple juice was DT 95 °С = 0.16 min, and the parameter value z = 6.76 °C, in apple juice with pulp parameters: DT 95 °C = 0.24 min, z – 7.12 °C, in YaKS – DT 95 °C = 0.39 min, and z – 7.8 °C. The dynamics of thermal stability parameters D and z of A. fischeri mold fungus spores (test cultures) versus RSV concentration of juice products was established. The research results showed that with an increase in the concentration of RSV, the thermal stability of spores increases exponentially. The rate of increase in thermal stability decreases with increasing concentration of RSV. Since the concentration of RSV affects the rheological properties of the product (viscosity), this leads to a change in the kinetics of heating in products with convection heat transfer. Therefore, an increase in the concentration of RSV should inevitably lead not only to an increase in the thermal stability of spores of microorganisms, but also to a shift in the region of optimal modes of heat treatment of products toward an increase in the thermal load to ensure regulatory requirements for microbiological safety.

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