Kinetic profiles were established for up to 1100 h(46 days). No growth was observed at 08C. All ourexperimental growth curves, in synthetic medium aswell as in endive juice, were fitted by the Baranyimodel and modelling results seemed very satisfactory (Fig. 1). The maximal cell density, N , wasestimated up to 109 cfu/ml, whatever culture conditions. Specific growth rate and lag phase variedwith incubation temperature: in synthetic medium,maximal density was achieved after 8 days at 78Cand 33 days at 48C. In each case, growth took placebefore pectic compound degradation. Preliminaryworks had shown that initial substrate concentrationranging from 0.8 to 5 g/ l did not change the growthrate value (personal data). Thus, the Baranyi model,based on the logistic curve (Eq. (1)), could beconvenient for experimental data. However, withspoiling bacteria, microbial growth parameters werenot sufficient to characterise the effective damage onfoods. Therefore, the first primary model was completedby an other one concerning pectic compoundconcentration decrease kinetics