Chitosan Protects Cooked Ground Beef and Turkey Against <i>Clostridium perfringens </i>Spores During Chilling

We investigated the inhibition of Clostridium perfringens spore germination and outgrowth by the biopolymer chitosan during abusive chilling of cooked ground beef (25% fat) and turkey (7% fat) obtained from a retail store. Chitosan was mixed into the thawed beef or turkey at concentrations of 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%, or 3.0% (w/w) along with a heat-activated 3-strain spore cocktail to obtain a final spore concentration of 2 to 3 log10 CFU/g. Samples (5 g) of the ground beef or turkey mixtures were then vacuum-packaged and cooked to 60 ◦C in 1 h in a temperature-controlled water bath. Thereafter, the products were cooled from 54.4 to 7.2 ◦C in 12, 15, 18, or 21 h, resulting in 4.21, 4.51, 5.03, and 4.70 log10 CFU/g increases, respectively, in C. perfringens populations in the ground beef control samples without chitosan. The corresponding increases for ground turkey were 5.27, 4.52, 5.11, and 5.38 log10 CFU/g. Addition of chitosan to beef or turkey resulted in concentrationand time-dependent inhibition in the C. perfringens spore germination and outgrowth. At 3%, chitosan reduced by 4 to 5 log10 CFU/g C. perfringens spore germination and outgrowth (P ≤ 0.05) during exponential cooling of the cooked beef or turkey in 12, 15, or 18 h. The reduction was significantly lower (P < 0.05) at a chilling time of 21 h, about 2 log10 CFU/g, that is, 7.56 log10 CFU/g (unsupplemented) compared with 5.59 log10 CFU/g (3% chitosan). The results suggest that incorporation of 3% chitosan into ground beef or turkey may reduce the potential risk of C. perfringens spore germination and outgrowth during abusive cooling from 54.4 to 7.2 ◦C in 12, 15, or 18 h.