Food spoilage

You know it when you

see it
Or smell it
Or taste it

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Food spoilage
Food spoilage is a metabolic process that causes
foods to be undesirable or unacceptable for
human consumption due to changes in sensory
characteristics.
Approximately 1/3rd of all food manufactured in
world is lost to spoilage

Food
Food deterioration Food spoilage Economic loss

Food spoilage causes not only economic loss,

but also loss of consumable foods.
4
Detectable parameters associated
with spoilage
--changes in color
–odor
–flavour (smell and taste)
–shape and texture
–formation of slime
–accumulation of gas (or foam)
–accumulation of liquid
Major causes of food spoilage

• Temperature
• R.H.
• Light
Physical • Mechanical damage

• Enzymatic reaction
• Non enzymatic reactions
• Rancidity
Chemical • Chemical interaction

• Bacteria
• Yeast
Microbiological • Molds

• Insects
• Rodents
Others • Animals
• Birds
Microbial food spoilage,
• either microbial growth in a food
or
• release of microbial extracellular and
intracellular enzymes in the food
environment.
• Spoilage by microbial growth occurs much
faster than spoilage by microbial extra- or
intra- cellular enzymes in the absence of
viable microbial cells.
• Most foods serve as good growth medium for
many different microorganisms.
• all kinds of microorganisms are potential
contaminants.
• Microorganisms cause changes in
appearance, flavor, odour and other qualities of
foods.
Events in sequence for microbial food
spoilage
1. Microorganisms enter into the food from one or
more sources

2. Food environment (pH, Aw, O-R potential, nutrients)

should favour growth
3. Food must be stored at a temperature that enables
microorganisms to multiply
4. Food must be stored under conditions of growth for
sufficient length of time for the multiplying to cause
the detectable changes in a food.
• In a heat-treated food, the microorganisms associated with
spoilage either survive the specific heat treatment
(thermodurics) or get into the food following heating (as
post-heat contaminants).
• Spoilage of a heated food by microbial enzymes, in the
absence of viable microbial cells, can result from some
heat-stable enzymes produced by microorganisms in the
foods before heat treatment.
• Foods need to be stored at a temperature for a sufficient
length of time for the catalytic activities of the enzymes to
occur to produce the detectable changes.
Degradation processes of Food
• Putrefaction:
Protein foods + proteolytic microorganisms

amino acids +amines+ ammonia+ H2S

• Fermentation:
Carbohydrate foods +saccharolytic M.O.

organic acids + alcohol + gases

• Rancidity:
Fatty foods + lipolytic M.O.

fatty acids + glycerol

Food poisoning vs spoilage
Food poisoning
– food is eaten which looks normal, smells
normal and tastes normal
– Need to eat enough to make ill from the
ingested pathogens or toxins
Spoiled food
– Distorted shape, smell, taste, texture etc
– does not normally cause food poisoning
because it is rejected by the consumer
before ingestion
Spoilage detection level of
microorganisms
• To spoil the food, microorganisms (mainly
bacteria and yeasts) must multiply and attain
certain levels, often referred to as the "spoilage
detection level"
• Depending on the specific nature of spoilage
and microbial types, the spoilage detection
level can range from 106 – 108 cells/g, /ml
• Spoilage associated with H2S, some amines,

and H2O2 formation can be detected at a

lower microbial load, whereas formation of
lactic acid may be detected at a higher
microbial load.
Food Spoilage Bacteria in
Refrigerated Foods
• Psychrotrophs – Cold tolerant bacteria

psychrophiles and psychrotrophs are those

microorganisms that can grow in food stored
at low temperatures- chilling and refrigeration
(-1°C and 7°C).
• Eg :Spoilage of vacuum-packaged meats by the
psychrophilic Clostridium spp at -2 and 20°C
• pathogens
Yersinia enterocolitica
Listeria monocytogenes
Leuconostoc spp.,
several Lactobacillus spp.,
Serratia spp
• can grow in vacuum- and modified-air (MA)
packaged foods at O- I°C.
DETECTION OF SPOILAGE
• Spoilage is manifested by a variety of sensory
cues such as off-colors, off-odors, softening of
vegetables and fruits, and slime.
• However, even before it becomes obvious,
microbes have begun the process of breaking
down food molecules for their own metabolic

needs.
• Sugars and easily digested carbohydrates

are used first such as plant pectins

• Then proteins are attacked, producing volatile
compounds with characteristic smells such as
ammonia, amines,and sulfides.
• These odors start to develop in meat when there are
about 107 cfu of bacteria/cm2 of meat surface
• and are usually recognizable at populations of10 8
cfu/cm2
• Numerous methods for detection of spoilage
have been devised with the goals of
determining concentrations of spoilage
microbes or volatile compounds produced by
these microbes.
• However, many of these methods are
considered inadequate because they are
• time-consuming
• labor-intensive
• do not reliably give consistent results
• Traditional methods of estimating bacterial
populations do not provide results quickly
enough to allow for interventions.
• Enumeration of colony forming units (CFU)
Modern methods
1. Microbial population levels can be measured
by real time PCR in liquids, such as
yeasts in wine and fruit juices
2.detecting bacteria using ATP bioluminescence
and electrical impedance assays but some food
matrices may contain interfering substances.
3. Detection of volatile compounds produced by
spoilage bacteria :this can be a less invasive
and more rapid means for monitoring spoilage
4. HPLC methods have been used to quantitate
different amines in fish produced during
spoilage of high protein foods
i.e biogenic amines (putrescine, cadaverine,
histamine, and tyramine)
Combined concentrations of these amines
are expressed as a biogenic amine index
that is related to the extent of food spoilage
and to the concentrations of spoilage
organisms.
5. Electronic noses
• first developed about twenty years ago and
have undergone many refinements since
• They consist of a set of sensors that react with
different volatile chemicals and produce an
electrical signal.
• An odour profile can be analyzed by using
pattern recognition files
• Such systems have been used to detect
spoilage in beef ,bakery products ,fish and milk
6. FT-IR (Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy)
used to detect chemicals associated with spoilage
Eg : beef and apple juice

7. visible and short wavelength near-infrared

spectroscopy by diffuse reflectance
Eg: detect microbial load in chicken

8. Lipopolysachcharides (LPS) in food

measure LPS concentration with proper standard
curve , level of G (- ) bacteria can be estimated
9. Measuring heat stable proteinases and lipases
in milk
10. ion mobility spectrometry for detecting
trimethylamine in meat
11. gas chromatography mass spectrometry for
analyses of fish
SPOILAGE ORGANISMS
• Some microbes are commonly found in many
types of spoiled foods while others are more
selective in the foods they consume
• Multiple species are often identified in a single

spoiled food item but there may be one species

(a specific spoilage organism, SSO)primarily
responsible for production of the compounds
causing offodors and flavours.
• Within a spoiling food, there is often a
succession of different populations that rise and
fall as different nutrients become available or
are exhausted.
• Some microbes, such as lactic acid bacteria
and molds, secrete compounds that inhibit
competitors
• Spoilage microbes are often common
inhabitants of soil, water, or the intestinal tracts
of animals and may be dispersed through the
air and water and by the activities of small
animals, particularly insects.