2.7. Model development
After statistical analysis, it was noted that there was no significant
difference (p N 0.05) between the MRS and APC counts, so the populations
of both of these organisms were pooled for core and purge populations
separately. All of the other enumerated populations were
different from each other (p b 0.05). A simple quadratic model was
fitted to the plots of dissolved CO2 concentrations and the bacterial
populations using the global curve fit function in SigmaPlot (Systat
Software, San Jose, CA). The result was a mathematical model for estimating
microbial populations in vacuum-packaged pork based upon the
concentration of dissolved CO2 in the purge