Abstract
Construction of a predictive model for hygenic management of liquid foods was attempted by investigating the effects and interactions of storage conditions on the aerobic growth kinetics of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in a soup product. The Gompertz curves were generated from the experimental data obtained under three temperatures (298 to 310K) in combination with four levels of inoculation (5.32×10-3 to 5.32×10-6g·L-1) and five levels of ethanol concentration (2.7 to 4.7g·L-1). The microbial growth kinetic analysis disclosed that ethanol was effective for prolonging lag phase duration of the growth in a processed soy sauce. The Gompertz function in combination with nonlinear equations generated by stepwise regression analysis was suitable for predicting the growth of organisms. The lag phase duration was about 18h longer than the quality guarantee period of a soup product containing a perceptible amount of contaminant organisms.
