Temperature survey and microbial quality of chicken sausages during storage distribution in cold chain

Abstract

Temperature survey was conducted for chicken sausages during chilled storage and distribution to retailer. Temperature history was recorded while physicochemical and total plate count was evaluated after storage and distribution. Chicken sausages were cooked at 80°C for 5 minutes before they were cooled to room temperature before packaged in a 0.5kg polyethylene bag. The sausages packs were then transferred to an ice slush bath for a rapid cooling before they were stored in a 55.2 m³ chiller until further distribution. The survey revealed that the mean temperature of packed sausages was from 21.2 to 31.5°C during packing. During ice slush cooling, the sausages were cooled down from the average temperature of 28.3 to 5°C in 120 minutes. The highest mean temperature recorded by data loggers (DL1 to DL18) were 3.9°C (DL15) in batch 1 in chilled storage. The highest TPC (5.25 log cfu/g) was found in the sausage pack located at the middle level of the back shelf on the left side of the chiller in batch 2. It was also found that temperature fluctuation had an effect on TPC and shear force of the sausages. In the distribution, the sausages were distributed using an unrefrigerated container truck from 7 pm to 5 am in the suburb of Bangkok. The result showed the temperature of the sausages increased from 6.5°C to 10.3°C during distribution for 7 hours. The highest mean temperature was 17.2°C and the TPC was 7.16 log cfu/g in the pack located in the lower level in truck container during distribution in zone 3. The predictive analysis showed the pathogens grew from an average of 0.1 log cfu/g to 0.2 log cfu/g during chiller storage and from an average of 0.1 log cfu/g to 1 log cfu/g during transportation in selected parameter from the worst case data from the surveys using the ComBase® predictor software.