Validation of Pasteurization of Finely Chopped, Cooked Sausages with a Small Diameter

Pasteurization is a physical food preservation technique that effectively destroys microorganisms and inactivates tissue enzymes by applying moderate temperatures below 100C.The safety and shelf-life of finely ground sausages, which are packaged in polyamide casings diameter 50 mm, weighing 220 grams, and produced by a food business operator, are ensured through pasteurization which lasted a total of 47 minutes.The standard pasteurization was performed in chamber at 80C, in a saturated steam environment.Following this, the sausages underwent a cooling phase lasting 25 minutes in the same chamber immediately after the termination of pasteurization.During the pasteurization at 80 and the cooling thereafter, pasteurization values (Pv) were ascertained in the thermal center of the sausages (thermocouple channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11), and ranged from 61.45 min (channel 10) to 81.07 min (channel 8).By achieving these Pv values, the temperature of 74C in the thermal center of the cooked sausages was validated as adequate for ensuring the safety of the sausage product under the already-defined conditions of the cold chain storage.