Concerns For Vacuum-packed and Refrigerated Teriyaki Chicken

C. botulinum and C. perfringen are an obligate anaerobes where vegetative cells can be killed at 80degreeC in few seconds time however, being spore-forming bacteria, the endospore formed can survive the high heat treatment and will result in foodborne illness when conditions become favorable for its growth during storage. In Instant Teriyaki Chicken Ramen, the teriyaki chicken are vacuum-packed to extend its shelf-life however, no one preservation method is foolproof, the vacuum condition makes it an ideal condition for the growth of C. botulinum and C. perfringens. To help better ensure food safety, the storage condition of the final product will be kept at refrigerated condition, a temperature range of which will not support the growth of these two microbes.

Yet on the other hand, the refrigerated condition can still promote the growth of Listeria which is found in the environment and can grow at a wide temperature range, and grow as at as low as 0degreeC so, the main preventive control is to empoly aanitary safeguards to prevent reintroduction of pathogens. Chief among these is Listeria monocytogenes.

The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) chartered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently commented on the microbial safety of refrigerated foods containing cooked, uncured meat or poultry products that are packaged for extended refrigerated shelf-life and are ready-to-eat or prepared with little or no additional heat treatment. The Committee recommended guidelines for evaluating the ability of thermal processes to inactivate L. monocytogenes in extended shelf-life refrigerated foods. Specifically, it recommended a proposed requirement for demonstrating that an ROP process provides a heat treatment sufficient to achieve a 4 decimal log reduction (4D) of L. monocytogenes.