The possibility of thermal inactivation of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores in fruit and vegetable juices

Abstract

For a long period of time the thermal processing has been considered as the only way to reduce the initial spore number of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris and prevent the spoilage of beverage especially the acidic one. The effect of temperature on the inactivation of bacterial spores is well documented. However is still not yet fully explored the interactions between the components of the tested environment. Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores being resistant to the pasteurization treatment conditions normally applied to acidic fruit products can germinate and grow causing spoilage. Visual detection of spoilage is very difficult because Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris does not produce gas during growth and incipient swelling of containers does not occur. Knowledge of the survival curves of Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris spores suspended in natural and model environments is necessary to design pasteurization processes for high acidic fruit products. Therefore, this microorganism was suggested as the target to be used in the design of adequate pasteurization processes.