Inactivation of Salmonella enteritidis during boiling of eggs

A series of inactivation curves for Salmonella enteritidis were determined for boiling eggs using different conditions of time and temperature. No significant influence of egg weight could be found on the temperature evolution in the yolk. The inactivation curves consistently showed an initial slow decline in bacterial number at lower temperatures, after which a very rapid inactivation took place. It was not possible to reproduce this behavior using a traditional inactivation model. A pragmatic model existing in two parts was therefore constructed. When the temperature is below a certain threshold, the inactivation follows a second order temperature dependence. Above the temperature threshold, standard Bigelow inactivation kinetics are assumed. This model could describe the data reasonably well, provided that the decimal reduction time in the Bigelow model was assumed to be different for a fast or slow heating process, respectively. The results suggest that the bacteria are more resistant towards a slower heating process, which is confirmed by analyzing the raw data. A fail-safe model can be obtained by using the parameters associated with the slow heating process. The statistical properties of the calibrated model are satisfactory, and a cross-validation shows that it can be used for egg boiling conditions outside its calibration range.