A new mechanistic growth model for simultaneous determination of lag phase duration and exponential growth rate and a new Bĕlehdrádek-type model for evaluating the effect of temperature on growth rate.

A new mechanistic growth model was developed to describe microbial growth under isothermal conditions. The new mathematical model was derived from the basic observation of bacterial growth that may include lag, exponential, and stationary phases. With this model, the lag phase duration and exponential growth rate of a growth curve were simultaneously determined by nonlinear regression. The new model was validated using Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in broth or meat. Statistical results suggested that both bias factor (B(f)) and accuracy factor (A(f)) of the new model were very close to 1.0. A new Bĕlehdrádek-type rate model and the Ratkowsky square-root model were used to describe the temperature dependence of bacterial growth rate. It was observed that the maximum and minimum temperatures were more accurately estimated by a new Bĕlehdrádek-type rate model. Further, the inverse of square-roots of lag phases was found proportional to temperature, making it possible to estimate the lag phase duration from the growth temperature. Published by Elsevier Ltd.