A PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR HIGH-PRESSURE CARBON DIOXIDE INACTIVATION OF MICROORGANISMS

The Weibull model, which is commonly used for thermal inactivation of microorganisms in literature, was used to describe microbial inactivation by high-pressure carbon dioxide (HPCD). The number of parameters of the model was reduced from two to one in order to avoid interrelationship of these parameters with a slight loss of goodness-of-fit. A second-order polynomial function fulfilling a number of constraints was proposed for the secondary modeling of the time-constant parameter of the reduced Weibull model. This function consists of both pressure and temperature and therefore can be used for HPCD treatments.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The application of any new technology in food preservation requires a reliable model that accurately describes and predicts the inactivation data of microorganisms. In principle, the methodology presented here could be used to describe and predict the survival data for high-pressure carbon dioxide inactivation of microorganisms at least for some pressure and temperature ranges if the isobaric/isothermal survival curves of these microorganisms are linear, concave upward or downward.