Primary and secondary modeling of Brochothrix thermosphacta growth under different temperature and ph values

Abstract Bochothrix thermosphacta is an optional aerobic psychrotrophic related to the meat deterioration and consequently loss of a refrigerated cargo contaminated. Predictive microbiology can be used as a quality assurance tool, since it allows the prediction of microbial response based in pass observations. This work aimed model the growth of B. thermosphacta under variation of pH and temperature. For this purpose, the experimental growth data were fitted to the primary models of Baranyi and Roberts and the modified Gompertz model and the data for the maximum rate of growth (μmax) were adjusted to Ratkowsky extended secondary model. The results showed us that the influence of temperature on growth parameters was more evident than pH. Since, by fixing the temperature the change of pH little altered the μmax. However, as the temperature rises the elevation at the μmax is considerable, for example the comparison of predicted values for μmax, when the temperature exceeds 4 °C to 12 °C, it is clear that these rates are more than double. Finally, it is emphasized that all tested models feature good fit to the experimental data, which makes them validated for prediction growth of B. thermosphacta in the same conditions tested experimentally.