Sliced bacon. The means of observed survival of
MRSA on sliced bacon cooked at a temperature of 177uC
(350uF) are listed in Table 3. There was not a significant
difference (P . 0.05) between brands or for the brand-withintreatment
effect (cook time) in the model. Day of replication
also did not impact the fixed main treatment effect of time of
cooking (0, 2, or 5 min at 177uC). Overall, the three
independent replications showed a log reduction of .6.5.
There was not a significant difference (P ~ 0.91) in the
treatment effects between cooking at 2 min per side or 5 min
per side, but both cooking times resulted in S. aureus
populations that were significantly different (P , 0.001) from
those of the uncooked, positive control. Although not measured
in the current study, the literature suggests that water activity is
a better measure of safety of cooked sliced bacon with respect
to S. aureus growth and toxin production (6).
The percent positive results were pooled by treatment
only, since there was not a significant difference between
brands in the model. The pooled least square means ¡
standard errors of the means for the percent positive results
for the BHI enrichment are listed in Table 4. Although not statistically different, recovery of MRSA from BHI
enrichment was not observed in brand A