Abstract

BRENES, Karen  and  ARIAS, Maria L. Survival capacity determination of Salmonella enterica in samples of peanut butter commercially distributed in San José, Costa Rica. Rev. cienc. tecnol. [online]. 2016, n.26, pp.21-25. ISSN 1851-7587.

Peanut butter is a product with high content of grease and reduced water activity. This product had not been associated with the transmission of Salmonella until the late nineties. The aim of this work was to determine the survival time of two populations of Salmonella enterica inoculated in peanut butter and stored at room temperature. Total aerobic plate count, molds and yeast count and the presence of Salmonella were determined in three different lots of four commercial brands of peanut butter, three imported and one of national production, obtained from the main supermarkets of the metropolitan area of San Jose, Costa Rica. Also, the survival of a high (107 UFC/ml) and low cell density (103 UFC/ml) of Salmonella Enteritidis ATCC 13076, inoculated into peanut butter samples and incubated at room temperature during the storage time was evaluated. The counts of the native flora were low; as well as all samples were negative for the presence of Salmonella spp. Samples inoculated with the low concentration of Salmonella enterica showed an initial count lower than 2.78 log10 UFC/g in the four different brands evaluated and could not survive longer than two weeks. Samples inoculated with a high concentration of Salmonella enterica showed a constant decrease in the number of bacteria for the six weeks of the study with higher reductions observed during the first two weeks.

Keywords : Peanut butter; Salmonella enterica; Survival.

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