FATE OF Staphylococcus aureus IN BEEF‐SOY LOAVES SUBJECTED TO PROCEDURES USED IN HOSPITAL CHILL FOODSERVICE SYSTEMS

Staphylococcus aureus was inoculated into uncooked mixtures of ground beef and soy protein and survival of the organism was determined during the stages of food handling that would occur in a hospital with a chill foodservice system. Although the initial inoculum was only approximately 5000/g, heating the mixture as loaves in a convection oven at 121°C to an internal temperature of 60°C was not lethal to S. aureus . Numbers of S. aureus in loaves decreased during holding at 5°C for 24, 48 and 72 hr. Numbers of S. aureus in the center of the final product were less than 3/g after loaves were portioned, held chilled at 5°C for 2 hr, and portions heated to 80°C in a microwave oven.