| Salmonella is a harmful bacterium that can cause serious illness if contaminated meat is not properly processed. Recent research has shown that the assumption that the interior of intact whole-muscle meat products is sterile is not necessarily true for marinated products exposed to pathogens. Therefore, the objectives of this project were to: (1) develop a mechanistic mathematical model to describe the transport of Salmonella into intact whole-muscle meat products during marination, (2) estimate model parameters from laboratory trials, and (3) validate the model using independent data. The proposed model represents one-dimensional transport of Salmonella into whole-muscle meat products, assuming capillary diffusion of marinade and capsule-like transport of the Salmonella cells along with the marinade. The model solution was stable and yielded reasonable relationships between input and output variables (i.e., moisture uptake and Salmonella migration). In experimental trials, the total mass uptake was very low, < 1%, but significant numbers of Salmonella entered the product (counts > 101 at 4.5 cm from the surface in contact with marinade). However, the model did not predict the distribution of Salmonella in whole-muscle meat products during marination with sufficient accuracy to support the hypothesis regarding the underlying mechanism. |
