Key Factors Determining the Behavior of Pathogens in Dry-Cured Ham after High Pressure Processing

High pressure processing (HPP) inactivates pathogens and increases the safety of ready-to-eat meat products. The high-pressure lethality and the behavior of the surviving cells after HPP depends on process parameters (pressure and time), microorganism and matrix characteristics. The aim of the present study was to quantify the impact of pressure level, water activity (aw), and fat content on the behavior of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes during refrigerated storage of dry-cured ham after high-pressure processing. Salmonella enterica serotype London CTC1003 and L. monocytogenes CTC1034 were inoculated at ca. 7 log cfu/g in dry-cured ham of different aw (0.87–0.98), vacuum packaged, pressurized from 300 to 852 MPa for 5 min, and stored at 7 °C for up to 2 months. Salmonella and L. monocytogenes populations were monitored by plate count during the storage of the hams. The gamma concept was used to quantify the individual effects of aw and storage temperature on the pathogen growth/no-growth behavior in pressurized dry-cured ham. The Weibull (inactivation) or Logistic (growth) primary models were fitted to the log change of pathogen levels during storage of dry-cured ham after pressurization. According to the gamma approach, the refrigeration temperature and aw were the main factors limiting the growth of Salmonella and L. monocytogenes, respectively, in dry-cured ham. Under conditions not allowing growth, the effect of increasing pressures on the microbial inactivation depended on the aw of dry-cured ham and the pathogen; dry-cured ham with high fat content with an aw ≥ 0.95 enhanced the inactivation of Salmonella whereas it reduced that of L. monocytogenes. Under conditions allowing growth of L. monocytogenes, the increase in aw from 0.96 to 0.98 reduced the lag time with no apparent impact on the growth rate.