Modeling and optimization of sensory changes and shelf-life in vacuum-packaged cooked ham treated by E-beam irradiation

The E-beam irradiation of vacuum-packaged RTE cooked ham was carried out to establish the dose required to achieve the food safety objective (FSO) and to minimize changes in selected sensory attributes. Cooked ham was irradiated with doses ranging 1–4 kGy. After the treatment, the microbial inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes, the shelf-life of the product and some sensory attributes (appearance, odor, and flavor) were determined. The inactivation of L. monocytogenes was satisfactorily described by a first-order kinetics equation (R2=0.99). The influence of the irradiation dose on appearance, odor, and flavor was modeled through Gompertz (R2=0.99, for appearance) and Activation/Inactivation (R2=0.99, for odor and flavor) equations. A model was also developed to determine the shelf-life of irradiated cooked ham depending on the irradiation dose (R2>0.91). The dose that maximized the scores of the sensory attributes was 0.96 kGy resulting in an acceptable sensory quality for 80 days. It is possible to apply up to 2 kGy to ensure microbial safety, while provoking no significant changes in the above mentioned sensory attributes.