The importance of validated kill steps and thermal death kinetics of Salmonella in food safety management

Food safety is a paramount concern worldwide as consumption of contaminated food products can result in foodborne illness outbreaks, hospitalization and even death. Each year, millions of people around the world are affected by foodborne illness outbreaks, and thousands succumb to these outbreaks. It is important to note that most of the foodborne illness outbreaks are preventable. This is where the validated kill-step (baking, cooking, roasting, boiling, extrusion etc.) during the food processing plays a critical role in achieving food safety. The “kill-step” in food manufacturing is the point at which potential harmful pathogens are controlled ensuring the safety of the finished food product. As most of these kill steps are thermal processing steps, the destruction of a potential bacterial pathogen is dependent on the oven temperature, dwell time and nature of the food composition (high-protein, high-fat, high-salt, high-carbohydrate matrices). It is important to note that the set temperature and time during a kill-step depends on the thermal death decimal reduction time (D-value) and thermal death decimal reduction temperature (z-value). Therefore, determining the D and z values of a potential bacterial pathogen associated with a specific food matrix is crucial for a resilient food safety system.

Keywords: Foodborne Pathogens; Salmonella; D-Value; Z-Value; Thermal Processing; Food Safety