Determinación de límites operacionales de temperatura en una planta de producción de pollo que garantice la inocuidad de los productos y su vida útil

Abstract

This work aims to establish the operational and critical limits in a chicken production plant, using engineering tools, guaranteeing the safety and shelf life of the product. The approach arises from the need to expand the operational temperature range since, due to the environment, handling and the different transformation processes cause the temperature to increase, exceeding the conservation limit from 0 to 4°C. To establish this range and on a technical basis, a Box-Behnken experimental design was used with three variables: product temperature, process temperature and exposure time for the response variable total mesophilic aerobic count. In addition, the study included microbiological analyses for Salmonella spp based on the experiment design and comparing the results with the NTE INEN 1338:2024 standard, in addition, ComBase was used for microbiological prediction and shelf-life tests in selected products. The results analyzed by ANOVA, the predictions and the microbiology added to determine the optimal conditions of 7.5 °C for the product and 14 °C for the process, in this range Salmonella spp. and aerobes remained within acceptable limits under regulations. Keywords: Food safety, predictive microbiology, Box-Behnken design.