Thermal Processing of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products

Thermal Processing of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products provides critical technical information on all aspects of thermal processing of RTE meat products. Edited and authored by the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the meat industry on this subject, the book addresses all technical and regulatory aspects of the production of RTE meat products, such as heat and mass transfer, pathogen lethality, post-packaging pasteurization, sanitary design, predictive equations and supportive documentation for HACCP.

Contributors ix

Preface xi

Chapter 1 Heat and Mass Transfer 3
Bradley P. Marks

Chapter 2 Microbiology of Cooked Meats 17
Aubrey F. Mendonca

Chapter 3 Fundamentals of Continuous Thermal Processing 39
Donald Burge

Chapter 4 Thermal Processing of Slurries 57
Darrell Horn and Daniel Voit

Chapter 5 Processing Interventions to Inhibit Listera monocytogenes Growth in Ready-to-Eat Meat Products 87
C. Lynn Knipe

Chapter 6 Introduction to Lethality Equations 127
Bradley P. Marks

Chapter 7 Predictive Microbiology Information Portal with Particular Reference to the USDA—Pathogen Modeling Program 137
Vijay Juneja and Andy Hwang

Chapter 8 Supporting Documentation Materials for HACCP Decisions 153
Mary Kay Folk

Chapter 9 The Ten Principles of Sanitary Design for Ready-to-Eat Processing Equipment 163
David Kramer

Chapter 10 Principles of Sanitary Design for Facilities 173
David Kramer

Chapter 11 Third-Party Audits 187
Robert E. Rust

Chapter 12 Food Safety Beyond Guidelines and Regulations 195
Bradley P. Marks

Appendix A Objectives and Critical Elements of Thermal Processing of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products 213
Erwin Waters

Index 229 C. Lynn Knipe, PhD, is associate professor in the departments of Food Science and Technology and Animal Science, and the Extension Processed Meats Specialist at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

Robert E. Rust is professor emeritus in the department of Animal Science at Iowa State University, Ames, IA, and continues to serve as a consultant to the meat industry.

Regulation of Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meat products requires processors to select an “alternative” approach to producing safe RTE products, and the more desirable alternatives require greater technical expertise on the part of processors regarding the sufficiency of cooking (lethality) and chilling (stabilization).

Thermal Processing of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products provides critical technical information on all aspects of thermal processing of RTE meat products. Compiling and expanding information from their successful one-of-a-kind university short course, the editors and authors are the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the meat industry on this subject. Thermal Processing of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products addresses all technical and regulatory aspects of the production of RTE meat products, such as heat and mass transfer, pathogen lethality, post-packaging pasteurization, sanitary design, predictive equations and supportive documentation for HACCP.

Special Features:

• Critical technical information on thermal processing of RTE meat products
• Renowned meat industry experts serve as editors and authors
• Covers key regulatory aspects of RTE meat production