Inactivation and recovery of Staphylococcus aureus in milk, apple juice and broth treated with ohmic heating

Abstract Inactivation and recovery of Staphylococcus aureus in milk, apple juice and broth treated with ohmic heating (OH) were investigated in this study. OH treatment showed a comparable inactivation effect on S. aureus with water bath heating (WB) treatment, while the time consumed by OH was much shorter than that of WB. The highest injury ratio of S. aureus in apple juice was lower than that of S. aureus in milk or broth. Meanwhile, the time-average injured cells coefficient values of OH-treated S. aureus in milk and broth were lower than those of WB treatments. Color and pH values of OH-treated samples had no significant differences with that of WB groups. There was a similar recovery trend of S. aureus treated with OH and WB. Injured S. aureus completely repaired after 12 h in milk and broth, while there was still no colony detected in apple juice until 48 h.