Abstract
The microbial growth of fresh, vacuum packaged, cook-in-bag uncured beef patties was determined in two film structures, a commercial (PE/EVOH), and super barrier ($SiO_2$ coated polyester) material. Packaged samples were cooked to internal temperature of 71 and $82^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes, and stored in temperature abused ($23{\pm}2^{\circ}C$) and refrigerated storage ($4-6^{\circ}C$). Barrier properties had a significant effect (p<0.001) on aerobic and mesophilic growth in the abused condition. Cooking temperatures had a statistically significant effect (p<0.05) on aerobic growth in the refrigerated condition. The growth of anaerobes and psychrophiles were not significantly effected by either variables. Storage times had the most significant effect (p<0.001) for all groups of microorganisms. The physical properties of the commercial film (strength, thickness, and shrinkage) were changed after exposure to thermal treatment, while the super barrier package had actually no change.