KEEPING QUALITY AND SPOILAGE - A MATHEMATICAL APPROACH

The effect of the presence and growth of spoilage bacteria on the keep ing quality of perishable products was modelled on theoretical premise s. Growth was modelled as simply as possible, to direct attention to e ffects on quality and to detect how quality could be affected by the b acteria. Two approaches were investigated. Data on quality behaviour, obtained by a Monte Carlo type of simulation, based on the full model description in differential equations, were analysed with simplificati on of the model formulation, one mathematical and one mechanistic. Alt hough a perfect fit with multivariate nonlinear regression was not obt ained, the results of the analyses indicate practical solutions to be possible.