Effect of Meat and Isolated Meat Proteins on the Thermal Inactivation of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B

The thermal inactivation of staphylococcal enterotoxin B was studied in a phosphate-saline buffer, in the presence of two meat proteins, myosin and metmyoglobin (MetMb), and in a ground-beef slurry. When enterotoxin B was incubated at temperatures from 60 to 110 C, it was shown that the initial thermal inactivation at 80 C was faster than at 100 or 110C. The heating of enterotoxin B at 60, 80, and 100 C in the presence of either myosin or MetMb resulted in a rapid loss of the enterotoxin. Thermal loss of the enterotoxin B molecule in the presence of meat proteins was more pronounced at 80 C than at either 60 or 100 C. Thermal loss of enterotoxin B molecule in the presence of meat proteins was more pronounced at 80 C than at either 60 or 100 C. Thermal loss of enterotoxin B in a ground round slurry was rapid when compared to inactivation in a phosphate-saline buffer. The rapid loss of enterotoxin B in the slurry may be due to a combination of thermal inactivation and the binding of enterotoxin molecules to meat proteins.