Effects of Selected Commercial Phosphate Products on the Natural Bacterial Flora of a Cooked Meat System

Four commercial phosphate blends and a neutral pyrophosphate were used at three levels (0.30–0.65%) in the preparation of cooked sausage. Control treatments contained no phosphate. Vacuum-packaged sausage was stored at 5°C for 21 days or held at room temperature (20–22°C) for up to 48 hours after 7 days of refrigerated storage. Mesophilic and facultative anaerobic bacterial counts were highest in control treatments after 14 and 21 days at 5°C and after 24 and 48 hr at 20–22°C. For each phosphate, the level of addition was the determining factor in bacterial inhibition, since the highest phosphate level resulted in the lowest bacterial counts in sausage held at 5°C and 20–22°C. The level of phosphate was more important in prolonging shelf life than was the type of phosphate.