Modelling the effect of a temperature shift on the lag phase duration of Listeria monocytogenes.

The aim of this work is to study and model the effect of a temperature shift on h(0), the product of the growth rate by the lag phase duration (mulambda). Our work is based on the data of Whiting and Bagi [Int. J. Food Microbiol. 73 (2002) 291], who studied the influence of both the pre-incubation temperature (T(prior)) and the growth temperature (T(growth)) on lambda values of Listeria monocytogenes. We introduce a new model to describe the evolution of the parameter h(0) as a function of T(prior) and T(growth), and compare it to Whiting and Bagi's published polynomial model that describes the influence of T(prior) and T(growth) on lambda independently of mu. For exponential as well as stationary phase cells, h(0) increases almost linearly with the magnitude of the temperature shift. A simple linear model of h(0) turns out to be more suitable to predict lambda values than a polynomial model of lambda.