Spoilage Bacteria Identification and Food Safety Risk Assessment of Whole Soybean Curd

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to predict the shelf life and evaluate the risk profile of an innovative whole soybean curd (WSC). Two main spoilage strains were isolated from spoiled WSC and identified as B. subtilis and B. cereus. The origin analysis confirmed that B. subtilis and B. cereus originated from soybean materials and survived in soybean curd. For microbial contamination analysis, thermotolerant coliforms, E. coli and S. aureus were not detected in soybean curd. The predicted shelf life of WSC and okara-filtered curd that was stored at 10°C were 141.95 h (5.91 d) and 206.25 h (8.59 d), respectively. Moreover, the models applied in this study exhibited great fitting goodness and the predicted growth parameters were fail-safe. To conclude, introduction of okara into soybean curd reinforced the initial contamination level but didn't significantly increase the risk profile of WSC.