BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

2022-2023

Industrial Microbiology
Maria Brenda M. Hernandez, MSc.
maria.Brenda.Hernandez@adamson.edu.ph
Outline

§ Extrinsic Process Variables

§ Implicit Microbial Characteristics

§ Processing Factors
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

1. Temperature
2. Presence and concentration of gases
3. Relative humidity of the environment
4. Presence and activities of other microorganisms
5. Hurdle Technology
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

§ Temperature
- affects both microbial’s growth and physiology

- Most microorganism’s reaction rates double with every 10oC

increase in temperature

- -34oC: lowest temperature reported with microbial growth

- 100oC: highest temperature with microbial growth

- Microbes can grow over an extensive range of temperatures.

Extrinsic Properties of Foods

Microbial groups according to their optimum temperature:

1. Psychotrophs: microbial organisms that grow best at £ 7oC;

optimum temperature between 25oC and 30oC

2. Mesophiles: these grow well between 20oC and 45oC; optima

between 30oC and 45oC (37oC)

3. Thermophiles: these grow best ³ 45oC with optima between

55oC and 75oC
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

Microbial groups according to their optimum temperature:

Psychotrophs (bacteria): can cause food spoilage at low
temperatures

e.g., Alcaligenes, Shewanella, Lactobacillus, Micrococcus,

Flavobacterium Pseudomonas, Enterococcus, and others

Pseudomonas and Enterococcus: most commonly genera on

food; they grow well at refrigerator temperatures and cause
spoilage at 5-7oC

- Molds: e.g., Penicillium, Cladosporium and Mucor

Extrinsic Properties of Foods

Microbial groups according to their optimum temperature:

Mesophilic/mesophiles

- none of these organisms (bacteria) can grow below 5oC or >45oC

- most pathogenic bacteria belong to this group

- conventional refrigeration is inadequate to ensure the safety of food

- e.g., Enterococcus faecalis: can grow over a range from 0oC to >40oC
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

Microbial groups according to their optimum temperature:

Thermophilic bacteria: ³ 45oC, optimum can be between 50oC and 70oC
- e.g., Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Clostridium, Geobacilly, Alicyclobacillus
and Thermoanaerobacter; some species of these genera are not
thermophilic
- they are spore formers (gram-positive bacteria) and are of great
importance in the canning industry (processed foods): cell’s thermal
resistance
e.g., Bacillus stearothermophilus can survive ultra-high
temperature treatment (UHT) of milk (135oC for 2 seconds)
L. cytogenes – cells preheated at 48oC increased their heat
resistance
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

§ Yeast grows over the psychrotrophic and mesophilic

temperature, not generally within thermophilic range

Temperature of storage
- Most important parameter that affects spoilage of highly
perishable foods
- It depends on the relative humidity of the storage
environment and the presence and absence of gases such
as CO2 and O3
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

§ The concentration of gases in the environment

- CO2: the single most important atmospheric gas used to control

microorganisms in foods

- O2 + CO2: most important gases in modified atmosphere packaged

(MAP) foods
- MAP: displaces gases in the package, replacing them with a desired
mixture of gases

- Ozone (O3): it has antimicrobial properties – used for number of

decades as an agent to extend the shelf life of certain foods
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

§ Relative Humidity
- Amount of moisture in the atmosphere or food environment

- Foods with low water activity placed a high humidity

environment take up water, increase their water activity and
get spoiled easily (e.g., grains in silos or tanks)

- Most foods undergo surface spoilage from moulds, yeast and

certain bacteria under low RH (e.g., improperly wrapped
meats) in the refrigerator before deep spoilage occurs
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

§ Hurdle Technology

- is the combination of different preservation techniques (physical,

chemical and biological) as a preservation strategy

- >60 potential hurdles for food stability and quality of processed

foods

- Most commonly used in food preservation: to control temperature,

water activity, acidity, redox potential and the use of preservatives,
modified atmosphere and competitive microorganisms

- minimally processed foods/gentle, but expensive for conservation of

food
Extrinsic Properties of Foods

§ Different categories of Hurdle Technology

- Physical: Ionizing radiation, low temperature (freezing), aseptic

wrapping, elevated temperature (baking, evaporation, sterilization),
adapted atmosphere, ultraviolet radiation, electromagnetic force,
among others.

- Physico-chemical: sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, potassium sulfite,

salt and herbs, carbon dioxide, oxygen, surface treatment, lactic
acid, low pH and among others

- Microbial: Bacteriocions, protecting cultures, aggressive flora,

antibiotics.
Implicit Factors

§ Factors related to the microorganisms themselves

1. Antagonisms

2. Synergisms

3. Metabiosis

4. Commensalism

5. Predation

6. Amensalism
Implicit Factors

§ Antagonisms
- The growth of one organism inhibits or suppresses the
growth of the second organism (antagonistic)
- e.g., some microorganisms generate organic acids and
alcohols – inhibitory to some competitors
- Antibiotics or bacteriocins: highly specific antimicrobial
activity, usually against closely related species
Implicit Factors

§ Synergisms
- When two or additional microorganisms grow together,
producing an impact that none of the individual microbes
may produce alone
- e.g., Pseudomonas syncyanea and Lactococcus lactis will
produces blue color in milk when growing together
- Lactic acid bacteria in “yeast cream” defect caused by
yeasts, Candida pseudotropicalis, Torulopsis sphaerica, in
cream.
Implicit Factors

§ Metabiosis: sequential synergism

- growth of one microorganism produces environmental
conditions favorable for the growth of a second
microorganism, which in turn can create favorable
conditions for a third microorganism, and so on (extended
metabiosis)
Implicit Factors

§ Commensalism
- It benefits the symbiont but has neutral effects on the
host
- e.g., production of reduced redox-sensitive species

Methanogens produce methane ® oxidized by

methanotrophs, ® and sulfate reducers produce sulfide
® oxidized a variety of sulfide-oxidizing organisms
Implicit Factors

§ Predation
- e.g., Prokaryotic parasites (helminth, protozoans,
ectoparasites)
- e.g., protozoans – principal predators of prokaryotes in
nature
- Protists engulf prokaryotes in a process known as
phagocytosis through filter-feeding, direct interception, or
passive diffusion
Implicit Factors

§ Amensalism: relationship in which the activity of one

population is harmful to another
- e.g., microbes: when products of one type of metabolism
are detrimental to another
e.g., when one organism produces an associate antibiotic
against another organism-biological control