Method for Delaying Clostridium Botulinum Growth in Fish and Poultry

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to poultry and fish foodstuff containing lactate salt in amounts effective to delay Clostridium botulinum growth.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

The preservation of foodstuff has many aspects. For example, it has been suggested to add sodium lactate to meat products, such as ham and sausage at levels of approximately 1 to 3%. It is suggested that the sodium lactate lowers the a.sub.w of the foodstuff and has a bacteriostatic effect which results in a better shelf life during refrigeration, a possibility of storage without refrigeration and a possibility of lowering the sodium chloride content of the foodstuff resulting in a better taste without the decreased shelf life. Sodium lactate, however, has not been suggested as an agent for controlling or delaying Clostridium botulinum growth.

The need to control Clostridium botulinum occurs in foodstuffs such as meats and poultry which are packaged and cooked, but not sterilized, in anaerobic plastic barrier packages. Under temperature abuse, Clostridium botulinum may grow and produce toxin. Injury to humans resulting from this bacteria has been relatively rare since there are various means for preventing its growth. For example, high temperature processing of foodstuffs prior to packaging or after packaging will destroy the Clostridium botulinum. Other means for controlling the Clostridium botulinum have been to refrigerate the foodstuff and to add agents such as sodium nitrite to foodstuff such as bacon. The sodium nitrite while delaying the growth of Clostridium botulinum also forms a durable red pigment in the meat. This red coloring is desirable in many foodstuffs such as pork and beef products but is undesirable in other products such as poultry and fish.

While the control of food Clostridium botulinum has been successful, it is desired to find additional methods of controlling Clostridium botulinum without occurring side effects such as red coloring described above.

The invention relates to a method for delaying Clostridium botulinum growth in a foodstuff selected from the group consisting of fish and poultry, the method consisting essentially of:

(a) adding a lactate salt to a fresh foodstuff selected from the group consisting of fish and poultry, said lactate salt being added in an amount of about 1% to about 7%;

(b) cooking the foodstuff at high humidity to a temperature sufficient to cook the foodstuff but not sufficient to sterilize the foodstuff;

(c) cooling the cooked foodstuff; and

(d) packaging the cooked foodstuff in a plastic barrier package.

The foodstuffs included in this invention are non-red meat foodstuff such as fish and poultry wherein the poultry includes meats such as turkey and chicken. This invention is particularly useful when the fish or poultry is packaged in anaerobic conditions such as packaged whole meat or when the fish and poultry is packaged with other foodstuffs such as refrigerated meals and soups.

The lactate salt employed in this invention includes salts such as sodium lactate, calcium lactate, potassium lactate and ammonium lactate. Preferably the lactate salt is sodium lactate. The lactate salts are employed in amounts effective to delay Clostridium botulinum growth. The amount of a lactate salt effective to delay botulinum growth can be determined by a simple abusive temperature test procedure.

Foodstuffs that are to be protected by the lactate salt are stored at 80.degree. F. A control is utilized wherein no lactate salt or other Clostridium botulinum delay agent is used. The product is then treated with levels of lactate salt. The products are analyzed at various time periods. The levels of the lactate salt which delay the toxin formation compared to the control are amounts which are effective for delaying the Clostridium botulinum growth.

In general these amounts range from about 1 to about 7% lactate salt and preferably are in the range from about 1.5 to 3.5 lactate salt.

The lactate salt may be incorporated into the foodstuff by a wide variety of procedures. For example, the lactate salts may be added into the foodstuff either in a concentrated form or as a solution such as an aqueous solution. The lactate salts may be mixed directly into the foodstuff or may by injected into the foodstuff utilizing injection needles.

After the lactate salts are added to the foodstuff the foodstuff may be packaged in anaerobic plastic barrier packages and then heated to temperatures sufficient to cook the foodstuff but not sufficient to sterilize the foodstuff. Cooking the foodstuff below sterilization temperatures is desirable for the quality of the cooked foodstuff but Clostridium botulinum may later grow if temperature abused. The added lactate salts will, however, delay Clostridium botulinum growth. Other processing means may also be used such as cooking the foodstuff with the lactate salt added and then packaging. In this process the concerns for Clostridium botulinum growth are lessened but the added lactate salt is effective for delaying Clostridium botulinum growth.

It has also been found that while the lactate salts delays the growth of Clostridium botulinum, they do not add any coloring to the meat such as a red coloring.

While the lactate salts may be added as sole agent for delaying Clostridium botulinum, the lactate salts may be added in combination with other agents which delay Clostridium botulinum growth such as sodium chloride or sodium nitrite. In such cases the amount of lactate salts added will be reduced and the effective amount of lactate salt will be the amounts which delay Clostridium botulinum in combination with the other growth delaying agents.

The following examples are further presented to describe the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details described therein.

In these examples, a turkey batter was prepared by grinding turkey breasts and mixing salt at 1.4 wt % and phosphate at 0.49 wt %. Clostridium botulinum spores were added to the turkey batter. The batter was divided into aliquots. Some of the aliquots were designated controls, and no sodium lactate was added. To the other aliquots were added sodium lactate in varying amounts as indicated in Table I below. The inoculated aliquots were vacuum packaged, and water cooked to an internal temperature of 160.degree. F. The cooked turkey products were then cooled to 80.degree. F. and incubated at that temperature. Periodically; the product was removed and tested for toxin. The results of the test are shown in Table I.

From these results it is clear that sodium lactate added at the amounts indicated delays the growth of Clostridium botulinum.

According to this example 1,000 lbs. of fresh trim turkey breasts are injected with sodium lactate at a weight percent of 2.5% sodium lactate. The turkey breasts range from about 2.5 to about 3.75 lbs. The turkey breasts are injected with a brine solution comprising the following: 69.50% water; 22.49% sodium lactate syrup (60% sodium lactate; 40% water); 6.16% salt and 1.85% sodium phosphate. For each pound of turkey breasts there is injected 0.2274 lbs. of brine using a Townsend Model 1400 type injector.

The turkey breasts are placed on a rack in a oven and cooked at high humidity at 160.degree. F. dry bulb, for 2 hours and then at 170.degree. F. dry bulb, until the internal temperature of the turkey breasts is 155.degree. F. (approximately 15 minutes). The oven is turned off, but not opened and a solution of 2 lbs. of a commercial caramel powder and 13 lbs. of water is introduced to the oven through atomizing nozzles along with air over a period of 45 minutes. The turkey breasts are then removed from the oven, chilled and packaged.