Contribution of Composition, Physicochemical Characteristics and Polyphosphates to the Microbial Safety of Pasteurized Cheese Spreads.

Pasteurized process cheese spread was manufactured with moisture contents of 52, 54, 56 and 60%. Three different types of phosphate emulsifier were used, disodium ortho-phosphate and two commercially-available polyphosphates, S9 and S9H. Pasteurized, processed cheese spreads were inoculated with approximately 1 × 10 Clostridium botulinum spores/gram cheese in the cook kettle, held 3 min at 80°C, hot-filled into glass containers, and incubated at 30°C.