Impact of sodium lactate, encapsulated or unencapsulated polyphosphates and their combinations on Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus growth in cooked ground beef

Abstract Foodborne illnesses affect the health of consumers worldwide, and thus searching for potential antimicrobial agents against foodborne pathogens is given an increased focus. This research evaluated the influence of sodium lactate (SL), encapsulated (e) and unencapsulated (u) polyphosphates (PP; sodium tripolyphosphate, STP; sodium acid pyrophosphate, SPP), and their combinations on Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus growth in cooked ground beef during 30 day storage at 4 or 10 °C. pH, water activity (aw), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and S. Typhimurium, E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus counts were determined. S. Typhimurium was not found in SPP-SL combination groups after 30 day storage at 4 °C (P  This study showed that encapsulation is not a factor affecting antimicrobial efficiency of PP and using PP-SL combinations have synergistic effect on reducing the viability of S. Typhimurium, E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus and their subsequent growth ability in cooked ground beef.