The Effect of Cooking Temperature, Holding Temperature and Holding Time on Proximate Analysis, Aerobic Plate Count...

Restructured beef roasts (70% lean beef chunks, 22% ground beef, 1.5% NaCl, 0.5% polyphosphate, and 6% water) prepared conventionally and inoculated with Escherichia coli (6.75 log₁₀ organisms/g) were cooked to two temperatures (60.0 and 62.8°C) and held at two temperatures (54.4 and 60.0°C). Roasts were sampled initially and after holding 2, 6, and 12 h. Cooking lowered the aerobic plate count to an almost undetectable level in the cooked product. Cooking and holding temperature interacted to significantly influence pH, but the largest increase occurred with increased holding time. Yield decreased with increased holding time, and moisture decreased with increased holding temperature and longer hold time. Hold time resulted in a significant linear decrease in yield and approached a quadratic effect on pH change. Cooking and holding temperatures did not significantly influence the microbiology, probably due to the low number of surviving microorganisms.