Thermal Processing of Ready-to-eat Meat Products
March 13-15, 2007
The Ohio State University
ARS Pathogen Modeling Program for Cooked Product Stabilization - Dr. Vijay Juneja, USDA-ARS
The Food Safety and Inspection Service policy regarding the use of Microbial Pathogen Computer Modeling (MPCM) programs is discussed in detail. How MPCM programs can be used and their limitations are discussed. This discussion includes the use of MPCM programs as tools in supporting hazard analyses, developing critical limits, aid in predicting the expected effectiveness of corrective actions, and evaluating the relative severity of problems caused by process deviations. The benefits and limitations of the ARS Pathogen Modeling Programs with respect to cooked meat and poultry product stabilization are discussed. Each of the four cooling programs in the ARS PMP 6.1 version are used to demonstrate the use of the ARS models to evaluate cooling deviations.