Salmonella isolated from ready-to-eat pasteurized liquid egg products: Thermal resistance, biochemical profile, and...

The Egg Products Inspection Act of 1970 requires that egg products in the U.S. must be pasteurized prior to release into commerce. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for regulating egg products. Salmonellae are infrequently isolated from pasteurized egg products by food manufacturers or the FSIS and may be present as a result of either pasteurization-resistant bacteria or post-processing contamination. In this study, seventeen strains of Salmonella isolated from pasteurized egg products and three heat-resistant control strains were compared for the following attributes: thermal resistance in liquid whole egg (LWE) at 60 °C, enzymatic profiles, and serotyping and phage typing, antibiotic susceptibility, fatty acid analysis and strain morphological variation evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. Isolates were serotyped as Heidelberg (4 isolates), Widemarsh, Mbandaka, Cerro, Thompson, 4,12:i:-, and Enteritidis (8 isolates). All 20 isolates were sensitive to all 14 antibiotics tested for. The D60 values in LWE ranged from 0.34 to 0.58 min. All 20 strains were recovered from LWE inoculated with 8.5 logCFU/mL of Salmonella and pasteurized at 60 °C for 3.5 min; however, some isolates were not recovered from pasteurized LWE that had been inoculated with only 4.5 logCFU/mL Salmonella and treated at 60 °C for 3.5 min. Although some strains exhibited atypical enzymatic activity (e.g., reduction of adonitol, hydrolysis of proline nitroanilide or p-n-p-beta-glucuronide, and nonreduction of melibiose), differences in biochemical reactions could not be correlated with differences in thermal resistance. Furthermore, fatty acid analysis revealed that differences insaturate/unsaturated profiles may be correlated with differences in heat resistance, in two instances. One heat resistant strain (#13, Enteritidis) had the statistically lowest unsaturated/saturate ratio at 39%. However, one heat sensitive strain (#3, serovar 4,12:i:-) had the highest unsaturated/saturate ratio at 81%, and also the lowest concentration of stearic acid. This data represents the first steps in determining whether Salmonella contamination in pasteurized egg products may be the result of either thermally-resistant isolates or post-processing contamination. Contamination of LWE by Salmonella strains with higher heat resistance, (e.g., isolate #'s 2, 6, 10 and 12) may indicate the ability of Salmonella to survive pasteurization, while contamination of LWE strains with lower heat resistance (e.g., isolate #'s 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, and 15) may indicate post-processing contamination of LWE by this foodborne pathogen.