Chapter 5: Microbiology of Primary Food Commodities

This chapter focuses on the microbiology of specific commodity groups: dairy, meat, fish and plant products such as cereals, oilseeds, nuts, pulses and fruits and vegetables. The approach adopted is to describe how chemical composition, physical structure, husbandry and primary processing contribute to the microflora associated with the material and its subsequent development, leading to spoilage. The nature and causes of spoilage and how this can be altered by further processing into other products using techniques described in Chapter 4, such as freezing or canning, are discussed.