I REQUIRE SCIENTIFIC DATA WHICH ESTABLISHES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
TEMPERATURE AND GROWTH OF E.COLI 0157:h7.  I NEED TO DETERMINE WHAT IS
A SAFE TEMPERATURE FOR STORING MEAT.

---

Request for Question Clarification by alienintelligence-ga on 07 Sep 2002 03:24 PDT

Hi munzi...

Since you elaborated... may I ask
if you are interested in data or
documentation from a place such
as the Conference for Food Protection
regarding temperatures that are safe
for holding meat? Or do you strictly
wish us to approach this singly from
the perspective of E.Coli 0157:h7
growth relationship to temperature
gradients?

thanks,
-AI

Munzi:

Preventing the spread of all types of verocytotoxin-producing E.coli
(VTEC) meat depends not so much on the temperature at which you store
it, but rather the temperature at which you cook it.

According to the Mustafa Khammash at the University of California at
Santa Barbara the ideal temperature for the growth of E.coli is 37
Celsius.  You can check out a Power Point Presentation of his study of
the Feedback Regulation of Bacterial Stress Response at:
www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~mdsymp/ppt/khammash.ppt
There's a chart on the fourth page down.

According to the Insitute of Food Science and Technology temperatures
below -5 degrees Celsius may retard the growth of E.Coli, but the
organism will survive.

From http://www.ifst.org/hottop1.htm
"Refrigeration below 5 deg C is thought to prevent growth of VTEC and
is an important hygiene measure. However, any organisms present are
likely to survive at these temperatures perhaps for several weeks."

The key to killing E.coli in meat is to thoroughly cook it at a
temperature of 68.3 Celsius (approx. 160 F) or higher, for at least
two minutes.

hope this helps,

-actualwolf


Search Strategy:

e.coli +temperature +growth



Sites Used:

Insitute of Food Science and Technology
http://www.ifst.org

University of California at Santa Barbara
http://www.ucsb.edu