Browsing by Author "Brookmire, Lauren"

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    Optimization of the Quality and Safety of Cooked Seafood Products
    Brookmire, Lauren (Virginia Tech, 2010-09-10)
    Seafood products are a common consumer choice and a variety of cooking methods are used in seafood preparation. Although often cooked, products such as shrimp and salmon remain some of the most common carriers of foodborne disease. Cooking these products at elevated temperatures efficiently reduces foodborne disease causing pathogens to a safe level, but applying too much heat to seafood products can produce an overcooked, low quality food. It is necessary to investigate the cooking processes used in seafood preparation and establish appropriate consumer cooking parameters that optimize both the quality and microbial safety of the products. To achieve these goals, this study develops mathematical models for the inactivation of Salmonella sp., change in quality attributes, and the product heating profiles during the cooking process for shrimp and Atlantic salmon. Studies were performed to monitor the product heating profile during the baking and boiling of shrimp and the baking and pan-frying of salmon. Product color, texture, moisture content, mass loss, and pressed juice were evaluated during the cooking processes as the products reached the internal temperature recommended by the FDA. Studies were also performed on the inactivation of Salmonella cocktails in homogenized and non-homogenized shrimp and salmon. To effectively predict inactivation during cooking, the Bigelow, Fermi distribution, and Weibull distribution models were applied to the homogenized data. Minimum cooking temperatures necessary to destroy Salmonella sp. in shrimp and salmon were also determined. The heating profiles of the two products were modeled using the finite difference method. Temperature data directly from the modeled heating profiles was then used in the kinetic modeling of quality change and Salmonella inactivation during cooking. It was concluded that consumers need to judge the doneness of both shrimp and Atlantic salmon by the lightness factor (CIE L*) of the core region of both products. The core region's lightness factor, which a consumer may consider as opaqueness, more accurately represented the thermal doneness than the external qualities. The FDA's current recommendations for a 3 log reduction for intact seafood products and homogenized seafood products were each analyzed. Results were in agreement with the recommended 68°C plus 15 seconds for homogenized products. For intact products, shrimp inactivation results were in agreement with the recommended 63°C plus 15 seconds, but intact salmon achieved only a 2 log reduction by the temperature-time combination. It was also found that predictive models can effectively describe the survival data for two Salmonella cocktails. The Weibull distribution model, which takes into account any tailing effect in survival data, fit the survival data of Salmonella in shrimp acceptably. The Fermi distribution model, which incorporates any shouldering effect in data, was an acceptable fit for the inactivation data for salmon. Using three-dimensional slab geometry for salmon fillets and two-dimensional frustum cone geometry for shrimp resulted in acceptable model predictions of thermal distributions for the cooking methods studied. The temperature data attained directly from the modeled heating profiles was effectively used in the predictive quality and inactivation models. Agreeable first-order kinetic models were formulated for Î L and Î C color parameters in shrimp and salmon. Other kinetic models formulated were for texture change in salmon and pressed juice in both salmon and shrimp. Using a fixed inactivation level of 3 logs and a fixed quality of 95% best quality, optimal cooking conditions were determined that both provide a high quality product and assure microbial safety. Based on the specific cooking methods in this study, the optimal boiling times for extra jumbo and colossal sized shrimp were 100 seconds and 159 seconds, respectfully. The optimal oven baking times were 233 seconds for extra jumbo shrimp and 378 seconds for colossal shrimp. For Atlantic salmon, the optimal oven baking time was 1132 seconds and the optimal pan frying time was 399 seconds.
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    Optimum Cooking Conditions for Shrimp and Atlantic Salmon
    Brookmire, Lauren; Mallikarjunan, P.; Jahncke, M.; Grisso, Robert D. (2013)
    The quality and safety of a cooked food product depends on many variables, including the cooking method and time–temperature combinations employed. The overall heating profile of the food can be useful in predicting the quality changes and microbial inactivation occurring during cooking. Mathematical modeling can be used to attain the complex heating profile of a food product during cooking. Studies were performed to monitor the product heating profile during the baking and boiling of shrimp and the baking and pan-frying of salmon. Product color, texture, moisture content, mass loss, and pressed juice were evaluated during the cooking processes as the products reached the internal temperature recommended by the FDA. Studies were also performed on the inactivation of Salmonella cocktails in shrimp and salmon. To effectively predict inactivation during cooking, the Bigelow, Fermi distribution, and Weibull distribution models were applied to the Salmonella thermal inactivation data.Minimum cooking temperatures necessary to destroy Salmonella in shrimp and salmon were determined. The heating profiles of the 2 products were modeled using the finite difference method. Temperature data directly from the modeled heating profiles were then used in the kinetic modeling of quality change and Salmonella inactivation during cooking. The optimum cooking times for a 3-log reduction of Salmonella and maintaining 95% of quality attributes are 100, 233, 159, 378, 1132, and 399 s for boiling extra jumbo shrimp, baking extra jumbo shrimp, boiling colossal shrimp, baking colossal shrimp, baking Atlantic salmon, and pan frying Atlantic Salmon, respectively.