INDICATORS OF THERMAL LETHALITY IN SOUS VIDE MEAT PRODUCTS: A REVIEW

Abstract

This article sought to examine, among publications on the cooking of 'sous vide' meat products, the criteria established to choose the thermal lethality indicator, evaluating the basis based on the relevance attributed to the safety of the processed food. To this end, a bibliographic search was carried out in the databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar, covering the period from 2000 to 2026. 340 records were identified, 37 of which were considered eligible studies and 12 were included in the study. It was observed that only 2 studies evaluated based the choice of treatment and thermal lethality indicator on some international guideline. Some used evidence of foodborne illnesses and others did not even cite arguments as to why the microbiological analyzes were carried out or even did not analyze pathogenic microorganisms, only spoilage microorganisms, indicating that there was no concern about the safety of the processed food. A suggested alternative to be adopted until regulations are created that support and establish criteria for defining thermal lethality indicators and their detection limits in sous vide cooking, is the requirement to insert recommendations and instructions on cooking prior to consumption on the labels of ready-to-eat meat products.