be spread during processing and thus further contaminate uncontaminated
products. In this sense, it is assumed that the potential for crosscontamination
is present if one (or more) units are contaminated. If
cross contamination occurs and no lethal or inactivation treatments
are applied afterward, sampling plans may become important tools
intended to detect the possible contamination (Jongenburger et al.,
2011a, 2011b), although their effectiveness will depend on the levels
of contamination and their distribution in the final product to be tested.
In this study apples were chosen as a model product for tree fruits for
investigating the potential for cross contamination and survival of an
enteric pathogen such as Salmonella spp. during industrial processing
and subsequent storage, respectively.
The aim of this work was i) to study the potential for cross contamination
of apples simulating industrial processing, ii) to assess the survival
Salmonella on the apples after a cross contamination event, and
iii) based on these data, to assess suitable sampling plans to detect
Salmonella in apples.