Bacterial growth undergoes two phas

Bacterial growth undergoes two phases, the lag phase and the exponential phase prior to attaining a maximum number. in the lag phase, bacteria take time to adapt to their new environment. At sufficiently low storage temperatures ( which will vary with the food ) this lag phase may be so long that, even if the organism were theoretically able to grow in a food, no growth will occur if the shelf life is short enough. the data produced from this review suggest that in a product such as minced beef, where the shelf life of the refrigerated product is quite short, no growth of Listeria is likely to occur before the product becomes grossly spoiled, and so, is unlikely to be sold or eaten.