Relationship of Specific Microbial Growth and TBARS Value in Radiation-Sterilized Raw Ground Pork

Abstract

Sterilized raw ground pork was inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and Lactobacillus casei (LC) to investigate the relationship between microbial growth and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values. The analyses including microbial growth, pH, and TBARS values were performed during 3 weeks of storage at room temperature (20oC). The radiation-sterilized control sample did not show any microbial growth, but the samples inoculated at different levels (diluted twice vs non-diluted) exhibited differences until 1 week. However, the difference disappeared at weeks 2 and 3. The pH of raw ground pork inoculated with PA increased, but that of LC decreased. The pH of non-inoculated samples increased slightly after storage. The TBARS values in non-inoculated and LC inoculated with pork increased, but TBARS remained unchanged in samples inoculated with PA after 1 week. Results indicated that the microbial growth level and strains can influence the TBARS value of raw ground pork. Thus, it is important to use samples exposed to the same microbial conditions to compare the oxidation of lipids in meat samples.