Enterococcus faecium as a Salmonella surrogate in the thermal processing of wheat flour: Influence of water activity at high temperatures

Under all tested conditions, E. faecium exhibited equal or higher (1.0-3.1 times) D- and zT-values than those of Salmonella. Overall, E. faecium should be a conservative surrogate for Salmonella in thermal processing of wheat flour for control of Salmonella over a moisture content of 10-14% and treatment temperatures between 75 and 85 °C.