Modeling the microbial spoilage kinetics of processed fresh-cut mango under recommended and abuse temperatures

Evaluating how inactivation treatments affect microbial growth kinetics during temperature deviations can help identify strategies to extend refrigerated shelf-life. Psychrotrophic bacteria and molds and yeasts growth was quantified during 30-days storage at 2–15 °C for mango cubes subjected for 5 min at 90 °C to conventional (HTST) and ohmic heating (OH, 60 V/cm) and compared with untreated ones. Davey model was used to estimate temperature effects on Weibull primary model parameters. At 2 °C, HTST lag phase was longer when compared to OH. However, lag phase for psychrotrophic bacteria and molds and yeasts at 5 °C lasted 0 days for HTST, whereas the corresponding values for OH were 3 and 5 days. Secondary model estimating psychrotrophic bacteria and molds and yeasts growth at 5 °C for OH-treated samples yielded errors of 9.2% and 3.6%, respectively. These findings suggest that microbial growth models for OH/HTST and untreated fresh-cut mango can be used to monitor cold chain performance.