Microbial Responses Viewer (MRV): A new ComBase-derived database of microbial responses to food environments

ComBase is a large database of microbial responses to food environments and has attracted the attention of many researchers and food processors. Although ComBase contains a vast amount of data, it is not easy to obtain desired information from the retrieved data. In the present study, we developed a new ComBase-derived database (Microbial Responses Viewer, MRV) consisting of microbial growth/no growth data. The response was defined as representing "growth" if a significant increase in bacterial concentration (>1.0 log(10)) was observed. Alternatively, "growth" was defined as a positive value of the specific growth rate. The growth/no growth data of nineteen different microorganisms were extracted from all the data in ComBase comprising 29 kinds of microorganism. Furthermore, the specific growth rate of each microorganism was modelled as a function of temperature, pH, and water activity (a(w)) using a Poisson log-linear model, which is a family of generalized linear models (GLMs). For 16 of the 19 microorganisms, the specific growth/death rate was successfully modelled as a function of temperature, pH, and a(w) using GLM. The specific growth rate was illustrated using a two-dimensional contour plot with growth/no growth data. MRV provides information concerning growth/no growth boundary conditions and the specific growth rates of queried microorganisms. Using MRV, food processors can easily find the appropriate food design and processing conditions. This database will contribute to the efficient and safe production and distribution of processed foods. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.