Food Sci. Biotechnol. 24(2): 471-480 (2015) DOI 10.1007/s10068-015-0062-7 Optimization of Sterilization Conditions for Production of Retorted Meatballs Hee Soon Cheon, Su-Hee Choi, Changho Jhin, Won-Il Cho, Jun-Bong Choi, Hae-Hun Shin, Seungmin Lee, Hyunnho Cho, Hee-Jeong Hwang, KeumTaek Hwang, and Myong-Soo Chung Received July 14, 2014; revised September 20, 2014; accepted September 24, 2014; published online April 30, 2015 © KoSFoST and Springer 2015 Abstract Sterilization conditions for meatballs in retort trays were determined. Microbiological safety, texture, and sensory attributes were analyzed for 27 sterilization conditions (3 3 factorial design) using temperature, time, and processing method. Temperature and sterility were monitored using an F 0 sensor. Quality factors of water activity, viable cell counts, color, sensory characteristics, and texture were analyzed for retorted meatballs under each experimental condition. Quality attributes were significant (p<0.05) and differentially affected by temperature, time, and method. Linear effects were more important than quadratic and interaction effects. F 0 and hardness for quadratic effects were significantly (p<0.01) predicted. F 0 , the sensory quality of chewiness, and color b values were significant (p<0.05) for interaction effects. Overall, F 0 at the coldest point, the sensory quality of chewiness, the degrees of lightness and yellowness, and hardness were significantly (p<0.01) influenced, more by temperature and time than by method. Response surface methodology revealed optimum sterilization conditions for meatballs. Keywords: rotary retort, retorted meatball, response surface methodology Introduction Thermal sterilization is one of the most effective and widely used food-preservation technologies for maintenance of food safety. Thermal treatment allows preservation food products for longer periods of time and extension of the shelf-life based on inactivation of contaminant microorganisms. However, sterilization processes can also negatively affect the quality of foods. In particular, a lack of appropriately defined heat-treatment conditions can lead to overheating, which in turn will lower the sensory qualities of thermally sterilized food products. Moreover, thermal processing is an energy intensive process, and the associated general consumption of energy vastly increases production costs. Therefore, optimization of thermal heating processes is needed according to characteristics of particular food products in order to minimize both inherent energy consumption and deterioration of food quality characteristics with maximization of food safety based on elimination of spoilage microorganisms (1). Studies of thermal sterilization processes have been reported with a view to improvements in the safety of food end-products while maintaining food sensory and nutritional values (2). However, there have been relatively few studies of the quality of specific food products, such as retorted meatball, subjected to different thermal processing conditions. Hee Soon Cheon, Changho Jhin, Hyunnho Cho, KeumTaek Hwang Department of Food and Nutrition, and Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea Su-Hee Choi, Hee-Jeong Hwang, Myong-Soo Chung () Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, Korea Tel: +82-2-3277-4508; Fax: +82-2-3277-4508 E-mail: mschung@ewha.ac.kr Won-Il Cho CJ Foods R&D, CJ Cheiljedang Corp., Seoul 152-051, Korea Jun-Bong Choi Graduate School of Hotel and Tourism, The University of Suwon, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi 445-743, Korea Hae-Hun Shin Division of Foodservice Industry, Baekseok Culture University, Cheonan, Chungnam 330-705, Korea Seungmin Lee Department of Food and Nutrition, Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul 142-732, Korea RESEARCH ARTICLE