In the processed meat industry, food safety and microbiological shelf
life issues lend themselves to the use of probability modeling. Our re
search concentrated on predicting the effectiveness of sodium lactate
as an antibotulinal agent in vacuum packaged, uncured and cured turkey
breast model systems. In uncured turkey breast containing 1.4% NaCl,
0.3% Na phosphate, and 0-3% Na lactate, the antibotulinal effect of so
dium lactate can be predicted using the following model: Days to toxic
ity = 3.13 + 0.39(Na lactate)2. Using cured turkey breast with 0.3% Na
phosphate, 0.2% sucrose, 0-3% Na lactate, the time to toxicity can be
predicted from the following model: Days to toxicity = 1.69 + 4.88(Na
Cl) - 11.16(Na lactate) + 7.23(Na lactate)2. Probability models have a
lso been developed to predict the refrigerated shelf life of specific
processed meat products. The usefulness of the predictive modeling for
food safety and quality in the food industry will also be discussed.