Advanced Quantitative Microbiology for Foods and Biosystems describes new models for estimating microbial growth and survival.

Features:

• Covers how to use the new approach to predict the outcome of anti-microbial treatments and estimate the potential frequencies of future safety problems in foods and water
• Includes numerous schematic drawings that allow you to grasp the new methods and underlying concepts
• Provides a critical assessment of the discrepancies between theory and reality and fosters an alternative interpretation of the literature and experimental results
• Includes demonstrations with actual data that illustrate how microbial systems often respond in ways that differ from that implied by the standard theories
• Explores how growth and mortality patterns can be more accurately predicted with modern mathematical procedures and software

Contents

Isothermal Microbial Heat Inactivation

• Primary Models - the Traditional Approach
• The Survival Curve as a Cumulative Form of the Heat Distribution Resistances
• Secondary Models

Nonisothermal Heat Inactivation

• The Traditional Approach
• The Proposed Alternative
• Nonisothermal Weibuillian Survival
• Non Weibullian Survival Models
• Experimental Verification of the Model
• Heat-Induced Chemical and Physical Changes

Generating Nonisothermal Heat Inactivation Curves with Difference Equations in Real Time

• The Difference Equation of the Weibullian-Log Logistic
• Non-isothermal Survival Model
• Non Weibullian Survival Curves
• Comparison between the Continuous and
• Incremental Models

Estimation of Microbial Survival Parameters from Nonisothermal Inactivation Data

• The Linear Case
• The Nonlinear Case

Isothermal Inactivation with Stable and Dissipating Chemical Agents

• Chemical Inactivation under "Constant" Agent Concentration
• Microbial Inactivation with a Dissipating Chemical Agent
• Estimation of Survival Parameters from Data Obtained during Treatments with a Dissipating Agent
• Discrete Version of the Survival Model

High Co2 and Ultrahigh Hydrostatic Pressure Preservation

• Microbial Inactivation under High CO2 Pressure
• Ultrahigh Pressure
• How to Use the Model

Dose-Response Curves

• The Fermi (Logistic) Distribution
• The Weibull Distribution
• Mixed Populations

Isothermal and Nonisothermal Bacterial Growth in a Closed Habitat

• The Traditional Models
• The Logistic-Fermi Combination Model
• Simulation of Non-isothermal Growth Patterns
• Using the Logistic-Fermi Model
• Prediction of Non-isothermal Growth Patterns from Isothermal Growth Data

Interpretation of Fluctuating Microbial Count Records in Food and Water

• Microbial Quality Control in a Food Plant
• The Origins and Nature of Microbial Count Fluctuations
• Asymmetry between Life and Death
• Estimating the Frequency of Future Outbursts - the Principle
• Testing Counts Independence
• Uneven Rounding and Record De-rounding
• Choosing a Distribution Function
• Extinction and Absence
• Special Patterns

Estimating Frequencies of Future Microbial High Counts or Outbursts in Foods and Water

• Microbial Counts in a Cheese-Based Snack
• Rating Raw Milk Sources
• Frozen Foods
• E. coli in Wash Water of a Poultry Plant
• Fecal Bacteria in Lake Kinneret
• Characterization of Truncated Count Distributions
• Issues of Concern

A Probalistic Model of Historic Epidemics

• The Model
• Mortality from Smallpox and Measles in 18th Century England
• Potential Uses of the Model in Contemporary Epidemiology

Aperiodic Microbial Outbursts with Variable Duration

• Microbial Fluctuations in a Water Reservoir
• A Model of Pathogen Outbursts in Foods
• Other Potential Applications of the Model

Outstanding Issues and Concluding Remarks

• Inactivation Models
• Growth Models
• Fluctuating Records in Water and Foods

Index

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