Abstract
Response surface methodology was used to optimize conditions (e.g., Thyme oil concentration [0.0-0.57%] and storage temperature [0.0-14.14 degrees C]) for inhibiting the growth of L. monocytogenes (log cfu/g) in ground meat. Additionally, the effect of the variables; namely, temperature and concentration on mu(max) (maximum specific growth rate, In cfu/g/h) values was also evaluated using a proposed combined model. The best fitting second order polynomial models were developed for each response using multiple linear regression analysis with backward elimination regression (BER) procedure. In this paper, multi-response surfaces using, desirability function approaches were successfully applied to determine optimum operating conditions. Under these optimum treatment and storage parameters, L. monocytogenes populations at hours 6, 24, 48, 72 and 96 were 6.12, 5.96, 5.88, 5.81 and 5.41 log cfu/g and 0.0011n cfu/g/h, respectively and mu(max) value 0.0011n cfu/g/h. At the end, the proposed combined model is described numerically and experimentally.