Find in Library

Tahini and tahini-based products are popular with consumers due to their special flavor and high nutritional values, but often have been linked to <i>Salmonella</i> outbreaks. The objective of this study was to compare effects of different kinds of natural antimicrobials on <i>Salmonella</i> inactivation in undiluted and diluted tahini during thermal treatment and storage. Results showed that the Weibull model was more suitable to describe the thermal inactivation behavior of <i>S. montevideo</i> CICC21588 in two kinds of tahini than the first-order model. Inactivation curves were concave-upward in undiluted tahini but concave-downward in diluted tahini. During storage of undiluted tahini, 3% oregano oil caused extra 1.44 or 0.80 log CFU/g reductions after 7 days at 25 °C or 4 °C compared to the control and 0.5% citric acid caused an extra reduction of 0.75 log CFU/g after 7 d at 4 °C. For diluted tahini, 2–3% oregano oil and 0.4–0.5% ε-polylysine reduced more populations compared to undiluted tahini. These antimicrobials all inhibited the growth of <i>S. montevideo</i> during 24 h at 25 °C and ε-polylysine had the best effect. Furthermore, these antimicrobials enhanced the <i>Salmonella</i> inactivation in diluted tahini during thermal treatment, and there was less of a synergistic effect of thermal and antimicrobials in undiluted tahini due to less sublethal injured cells caused by heat. This study may provide useful information for <i>Salmonella</i> inactivation in tahini.