Development of an integrated model for heat transfer and dynamic growth of Clostridium perfringens during the cooling of cooked boneless ham

For cooling cooked hams from 66.6 °C to 4.4 °C using forced air, the maximum deviation between predicted and experimental core temperature data was 2.54 °C. Predicted C. perfringens growth curves obtained from dynamic modeling showed good agreement with validated results for three different cooling scenarios. Mean absolute values of relative errors were below 6%, and deviations between predicted and experimental cell counts were within 0.37 log10 CFU/g. For a cooling process which was in exact compliance with the FSIS stabilization performance standards, a mean net growth of 1.37 log10 CFU/g was predicted. This study introduced the combination of engineering modeling and microbiological modeling as a useful quantitative tool for general food safety applications, such as risk assessment and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) plans.