Food Spoilage

INTRODUCTION
Food spoilage can be defined as:

• any changes in the visual, smell and texture of food that

makes it unacceptable for consumption.

Or
• is the process in which food deteriorates to the points it is
not edible to humans or its quality of edibility becomes
reduced.
3
• Food spoilage can be the result of:
– insect damage
– physical injury
– enzymatic degradation
– microbial activity
TYPES OF FOOD SPOILAGE

a. Physical spoilage
• moisture loss or gain
b. Chemical spoilage
• Oxidation of fat
• Browning of fruits and vegetables
 c. Microbial spoilage
• Growth of microorganisms
• Enzyme production
 BACTERIA

Microbial Spoilage
YEAST

MOLDS

8
• Various bacteria can be responsible for the
spoilage of food.

• When bacteria breaks down the food, acids and

other waste products are created in the process.

• While the bacteria itself may or may not be

harmful, the waste products may be unpleasant
to taste or may even be harmful to one's health.
• Yeasts can be responsible for the
decomposition of food with a high sugar
content.

• The same effect is useful in the production of

various types of food and beverages, such as
bread, yogurt and alcoholic beverages.
• Some spoiled foods are harmless to eat, and may simply be
diminished in quality.

• But foods exhibiting certain types of spoilage may be

harmful to consume. Uncooked or under-cooked animal
flesh that spoils is typically quite toxic, and consumption
can result in serious illness or death.

• The toxic effects from consuming spoiled food are known

as "food poisoning", and more properly as"foodborne
illness”.
 Microbial spoilage – how does it manifest
itself?
 Visible growth

 Gas production

 Slime

 Off-flavours

12
 Sequence of events in food spoilage

Microorganisms have to get into the food

from a source or more
↓
Food environment should favour the growth of
microbes
↓
Food need to be stored under the growth condition
for a sufficient length of time
• To allow sufficient number necessary to cause
spoilage
or changes in food.
• To allow the produced enzyme to spoil the food.
Chemical changes caused by micro
organisms
 Degradation of carbohydrates

 Degradation of N- compounds

 Degradation of lipids

 Pectin hydrolysis
 Common Causes of Food Spoilage
• Inadequate storage temperatures
• Prolonged storage times
• Improper ventilation
• Cross contamination
• Excessive delays between receiving and storing
 Spoilage Signs
• Odor:
– Breakdown of proteins
(putrefaction)
e.g. “rotten egg” smell
• Sliminess
-due primarily to surface accumulation of
microbial cells
-also be a manifestation of tissue
degradation
• Discoloration
– Mold on bread, blue and green
mold on citrus fruit and cheese
 Spoilage Signs…

• Souring
– Production of acid
e.g. sour milk from production of lactic
acid

• Gas formation
– Meat becomes spongy
– Swollen or bubbling packages and
cans
Classification of food by ease of spoilage

Foods can be classified into three groups based on

ease of spoilage:
I. Stable or non perishable foods.
Foods which do not spoil unless handle carelessly.
Example: Sugar, flour and dry beans.
II. Semi perishable foods.
If these foods are properly handled and stored, they will
remain unspoiled for a fairly long period.
Examples: potatoes, apples and nuts.
III. Perishable foods.
This group includes most of our important daily foods that
spoil readily unless special preservative methods are used.
Examples: meats, fish, milk, vegetables, eggs and etc.
Spoilage of different types of food
 Meat Spoilage

10/22/2009 22
 Meat spoilage…
Sources of contamination
• Cutting board contamination
• Conveyor belts
• Temperature
• Delay between storage and distribution
• Fecal contamination from intestines
 Meat spoilage…
• Storage temperature is the single most
important control factor for meat spoilage.

• Several genera of molds grow on the surface of meat

and can cause spoilage like
Penicillium, Mucor, Cladosporium, Alternaria, but
cannot grow on meat stored below 5oC.
 Meat spoilage…
• Meat spoilage is characterized by the
appearance of off odors and slime, which are
manifest when surface loads
exceed 107 CFU/cm2.

• The slime is due to the accumulation of

bacterial cells.
 Meat spoilage…
• Interestingly, meat spoilage (including poultry and
fish) occurs without any significant breakdown of
the primary protein structure.

• Instead, spoilage bacteria utilize glucose, free amino

acids or other simple nitrogenous compounds to
attain population of about 108 CFU/cm2, at which
point the organoleptic quality of the meat will clearly
reveal it is spoiled.
 Meat spoilage…
Fresh Meats:
Chemical composition:
-75% water
-18% protein
-3% fat, 1% ash, traces of CHO, vitamins, etc.
 Meat Spoilage
• Whole Meats:
The microflora of fresh meat is
composed primarily of:
1 Gram negative aerobic rods such
as:
– Pseudomonas spp.
– P. fragi, P. lundensis and P.
fluorescens
– Acinetobacter
– Psychrobacter immobilis
 Meat spoilage…

2- Bacillus and clostridia

(e.g. C. perfringens) are also common on all types of
meat.

• Although subsurface portions of meat are generally sterile,

some parts such as lymph nodes may be heavily
contaminated.

• Mechanical disruption of the tissue during processing can

distribute microorganisms from the meat surface throughout
the product.
 Meat spoilage…
• Ground Meats:
Same MO as whole meats, but always have higher microbial
loads. Why?

• greater surface area which gives microbes better access to the

food and also traps air to favor the growth of gram-negative,
aerobic bacteria like Pseudomonas spp.

• every handling or processing (storage utensils, cutting knives,

grinders) step can contribute additional contamination to the final
product.

• one heavily contaminated piece (e.g. a lymph node) can

contaminate an entire lot when they are ground together.
 Meat Spoilage
• Vacuum – packed meats
-not all O2 is removed during packaging but
residual is consumed by respiration of
aerobic MO and the tissue itself.

- results in increased CO2 levels and thus get

a longer shelf life.

The microflora shifts from predominantly G-

aerobes to G+ anaerobes and
microaerophilic lactic acid bacteria (LAB)
(like Lactobacillus,Carnobacterium and
Leuconostoc).
 Meat Spoilage
• if nitrites have been added to the vacuum
packaged meat (e.g. to inhibit C. botulinum in hams,
bacon), LAB domination is even more pronounced
•
• In general, vacuum packaged meats are considered
very safe foods and free from most pathogenic
species of bacteria.
Spoilage in vacuum packaged meats is manifest
by:

1. Slime development due to overgrowth of

microbe.
2. Greening caused by microbial production
of
H2O2 or H2S.

• H2O2 production in meat has been

associated with several types of lactic acid
bacteria (primarily Lactobacillus)
 Meat Spoilage
3. Off odors which result from:

1. the release of short chain fatty acids

2. the production of volatile compounds like
acetoin, diacetyl and H2S (and many other
compounds, depending on the dominant spoilage
bacterium).
 Meat Spoilage
The type of spoilage bacteria that will dominate is influenced
by several factors that include:
1. Is the meat product is raw or cooked?
-Cooked products have a higher pH (>6.0) which may allow growth of
G- facultative anaerobic pathogens like Yersinia enterocolitica.
-Raw products have a pH of about 5.6 which favors lactic acid bacteria,
esp. Lactobacillus, Carnobacterium, and Leuconostoc.

2. Nitrite concentration in meat.

-High nitrite conc. favors lactic acid bacteria.
-Low nitrite levels may allow growth of Brochothrix thermosphacta (G+
rod, fac anaer, growth @ 0-30oC from pH 5.0-9.0 catalase+).
 Meat Spoilage
• Processed meats (hot dogs, sausage and luncheon
meats)
• These products are composed of a variety of blended
ingredients, any of which can contribute microorganisms to
the food.

• Yeasts and bacteria are the most common causes of spoilage,

which is usually manifest in 3 ways:
A. Slimy spoilage
Like other meat products, this occurs on the surface and is
caused by the buildup of cells of yeasts, lactobacilli, enterococci
or Brochothrix thermosphacta.
Washing the slime off with hot water can restore the product
quality.

B. Sour spoilage.
Results from growth of lactic acid bacteria (which originate
from contaminated ingredients like milk solids.

These organisms ferment lactose and other CHOs in the

product and produce organic acids. Taste is adversely
affected but the product is not harmful if eaten.
C. Greening
due to H2O2 or H2S production. Because greening indicates
more extensive product breakdown, it is not recommend
eating green wieners.
 Poultry and egg spoilage
Poultry
a. general trends are the same as other fresh meats
b. whole birds have lower counts than cut-up parts
c. additional processing steps add to the microbial load

-When poultry is in the advanced

stages of spoilage, the skin will
often fluoresce under
UV because so many
fluorescent pseudomonads are
present.
• Off odors generally appear before sliminess develops.
The same bacteria can produce visceral taint, a
condition manifest by off odors in the abdominal cavity
of poultry.

Point to remember:
During the initial stages of spoilage, the skin supports
bacterial growth better than does the tissue
(which remains essentially free of bacteria for
some
time). Thus, the skin can sometimes be removed to
salvage the food.
Eggs

• Eggs have several intrinsic parameters which help to

protect the nutrient-rich yolk from microbial attack.
•
• These include the shell and associated membranes,
as well as lysozyme and a high pH (>9.0) in the white.

• Freshly laid eggs are generally sterile, but soon

become contaminated with numerous genera of
bacteria.
• Eventually, these MO will penetrate the eggshell
and spoilage will occur.
• Pseudomonads are common spoilage agents, but
molds like Penicillium and Cladosporium sometimes
grow in the air sac and spoil the egg.
 Fish Spoilage

a. Fish have high nitrogen content but no carbohydrate.

b.The microbial quality of fish and especially shellfish is heavily
influenced by the quality of the water from which they were
harvested.

• Unsanitized processing steps are principal culprits in fish

products
with high microbial loads.
• In general, frozen fish products have lower counts than fresh
products.

• Bacteria on fresh fish are concentrated on the outer slime,

gills and
intestine.
• Spoilage of salt- and freshwater fish occurs in similar
ways; the most susceptible part of the fish to spoilage
is the gill region.
• and the best way to detect spoilage in fresh fish is
to sniff this area for off odors produced by
Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter-Moraxella bacteria.
• The odors include ammonia, triethylamine, H2S and
other compounds.

• If fish are not eviscerated quickly, bacteria will move

through the intestinal walls and invade the meat that
lies next to the abdominal cavity.
• Spoilage of crustaceans (shrimp, lobsters, crabs and crayfish)
is similar, but these products have some CHO (0.5%) and more free amino
acids so spoilage can occur more rapidly.

• Mollusks (oysters, clams, mussels, squid and scallops)

• have more CHO (3-5%) and less nitrogen than either fish or
shellfish. Microflora of mollusks can vary a great deal depending on the
quality of the water from which they were harvested.

• Shellfish are filter feeders and can be expected to contain almost any
microorganism or virus that occurs in the water where they were obtained.

• If these products were taken from clean waters, then the

usual Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter-Moraxella types of spoilage bacteria
dominate.
Spoilage of Milk and Dairy Products
 Milk

Milk is a very rich medium

• Raw milk
flora may include:
a. All MO found on the cow hide (which incl. soil and fecal bacteria),
udder, and milking utensils
b. Can include G-, G+, yeasts and molds.

• When properly handled and stored, the flora of pasteurized milk is

primarily G+ bacteria.
• Psychrotropic pseudomonads are common in bulk stored raw milk
• produce heat stable enzymes that can reduce milk quality and shelf
life.
• Pasteurization kills most G- (incl. Pseudo.),
yeasts and molds.
• some G- enzymes, thermotolerant G+ bacteria
and spores survive
• Psychrotropic Bacillus spp. are also common in
raw milk.
• Pasteurized fluid milk
spoiled by a variety of bacteria, yeasts and molds.

a. milk is more frequently spoiled by aerobic

sporeformers such as Bacillus, whose proteolytic
enzymes cause curdling.

• c. Molds may grow on the surface of spoiled

milk, but the product is usually discarded before
this occurs.
• Butter
high lipid content and low aw make it more
susceptible to surface mold growth than to bacterial
spoilage.

• Some pseudomonads can be a problem; “surface

taint” -putrid smell, caused by the production of
organic acids (esp. from P. putrefaciens).

• Rancidity due to butterfat lypolysis caused by P.

fragi are common.
• Cottage cheese
can be spoiled by yeasts, molds and bacteria.
The most common bacterial spoilage is “slimy
curd” caused by Alcaligenes spp. (G- aerobic
rod bound in soil, water, and intestinal tract of
vertebrates).

• Penicillum, Mucor and other

fungi also grow well on cottage cheese
and impart stale or yeasty flavors.
• Ripened Cheeses
(1) low aw
(2) low pH
(3)high salt inhibit most spoilage microorganisms
except surface mold growth.
• Spores of C. butyricum, C. sporogenes and others can
germinate in cheeses (e.g. Swiss) with intrinsic
properties that are less inhibitory (e.g. lower salt,
higher pH).

• These organisms may metabolize citrate, lactose,

pyruvate or lactic acid and produce butyrate or
acetate plus CO2 or H2 gas which “blows” the cheese.
Spoilage of Fruits and Vegetables
 Vegetable
s
Typical composition:
-88% water
-8.6 % CHO. Includes readily available mono- and disaccharides
like glucose and maltose, as well as more complex
oligosaccharides, which are available to fewer types of
microorganisms.
-1.9% protein
-0.3 % fat
-0.84 % minerals
-also contain fat and water soluble vitamins and nucleic acids
(<1%).
-pH of most veggies is around 6.0; within the growth range of many
bacteria.
 Vegetable
• s
Vegetables are a good substrate for yeasts, molds or
bacteria

• It is estimated that 20% of all harvested fruits and

vegetables for humans are lost to spoilage by these
microorganisms.

• Because bacteria grow more rapidly, they usually out-

compete fungi for readily available substrates in
vegetables.
• As a result, bacteria are of greater consequence in the
spoilage of vegetables with intrinsic properties that support
bacterial growth (favorable pH, Eh).
 Vegetable
•
s
Microflora of vegetables is primarily composed
of:
– G+ bacteria like lactic acid bacteria (e.g.
leuconostocs, lactobacilli, streptococci.
– Coryneforms and staphylococci (the latter
coming from the hands of employees during
processing.
• Staphylococci are usually unable to proliferate but cross-
contamination can introduce them into other foods where growth
conditions are more favorable.
 Vegetable
s
• Soft rot
a. One of the most common types of bacterial spoilage.
b. caused by Erwinia carotovora and
sometimes by Pseudomonas spp., which
grow at 4oC

• Softening can also be caused by endogenous

enzymes.
 Vegetable
s
Mold spoilage
a. In vegetables where bacterial growth is not
favored (e.g. low pH), molds are the principal
spoilage agents.
b. Most molds must invade plant tissue through a
surface
wound such as a bruise or crack.
c. Spores are frequently deposited at these sites by
insects like Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit
fly.
d. Other molds like Botrytis cinerea, which causes grey
mole rot on a variety of vegetables, are able to penetrate
fruit or vegetable skin on their own.
 Vegetable
s
The microflora of vegetables will reflect:
a. the sanitation of processing steps.
b. the condition of the original raw product.

- Soil-borne MO such as clostridia are common on

raw vegetables, and some species, like C.
botulinum, are of such great concern that they
are the focus of processing steps designed to
destroy MO.
 Vegetable
s
Sources of Contamination

1. Surface contamination – Soil, water, air,

human pathogens from manure (night soil)
2. Harvesting - hand picking vs. machines
3. Packaging: containers reused
4. Markets – handling, cross-contamination
 Fruits
Average composition
-85% water
-13% CHO
-0.9% protein (a bit low on nitrogen sources)
-0.5% fat
-0.5% ash
-trace amounts of vitamins, nucleotides, etc.
-less water and more CHO than veggies
-low pH (1.8-5.6)
 Fruits
• Like vegetables, fruits are nutrient rich substrates
but the pH of fruits does not favor bacterial
growth. As a result, yeasts and molds are
more important than bacteria in the spoilage of
fruits.

a. Several genera of yeasts can be found on fruit.

b. Because these organisms grow faster than molds, yeast

often initiate fruit spoilage.

c. then molds finish the job by degrading

complex polysaccharides in cell walls and rinds.
 Fruits
Specific Spoilage Organisms:
1. Blue rot – Penicillium (fruits)

2.Downy mildews – Phytophora, large

masses of mycellium (grapes)

3. Black rot – Aspergillus (onions)

4. Sour rot – Geotrichum candidum

 Cereal and Bakery Goods

• These products are characterized by a low

aw which, when stored properly under low
humidity, restricts all MO except molds.

• Rhizopus stolonifer is the common

bread mold, and other species from this
genus spoil cereals and other baked goods.

• Refrigerated frozen dough products have

more water and can be spoiled by lactic
acid bacteria.
 Fermented Foods and Beverages
• The low pH or ethanol content of these
products does not allow growth of pathogens,
but spoilage can occur.
 Fermented Foods and Beverages
• Beer and wine (pH 4-5) can be spoiled by yeasts and
bacteria.
• Bacteria involved are primarily lactic acid bacteria
like lactobacilli and Pediococcus spp.
• and (under aerobic conditions) acetic acid bacteria
like Acetobacter and Gluconobacter spp. Acetic
acid bacteria convert ethanol to acetic acid in the
presence of oxygen.
• The anaerobic bacterium Megasphaera cerevisiae can
also spoil beer by producing acid and H2S.
 beer
• Spoilage in packaged beer is often due to
growth of the yeast Saccharomyces
diastaticus, which grows on dextrins that
brewers yeast cannot utilize.

• In either case, spoilage by yeasts results

in the development of turbidity, off flavors
and odors.
 Wines
• Candida valida is the most important spoilage
yeast in wine.
• can also be spoiled by lactic acid bacteria which are able to
convert malic acid to lactic acid (malo-lactic
fermentation). This reduces the acidity of the wine and
adversely affect wine flavor.

• In some areas (e.g. Northwest), wine grapes have too much

malic acid so this fermentation is deliberately used to
reduce the acidity of grape juice that will be used for wine.
• Yeasts, molds and lactic acid bacteria can
also spoil fermented vegetables such as
sauerkraut and pickles, as well as other acid
foods like salad dressings and mayonnaise.
• Spoilage in fermented vegetables
is often manifest by off odors or
changes in the color or texture
(softening) of the product.

• In mayonnaise or salad dressing,

the first signs of spoilage are usually
off odors and emulsion separation.
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