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. Samples were analyzed over 30 weeks for growth of C. botulinum and toxigenesis. Toxin was first detected in 60% moisture cheese with disodium ortho-phosphate as the emulsifier at 8 weeks and in 60% moisture cheese with the test polyphosphates as the emulsifier when tested at 20 weeks. None of the other cheese formulations were toxic at 20 weeks. Toxin production correlated statistically to time, moisture, pH and phosphate type.