Thermal inactivation kinetics of foodborne pathogens during lahmacun baking and implications for public health

Abstract

Lahmacun is the most widely consumed and popular fast food in Türkiye. The structure and composition of the lahmacun can be considered to be analogous to that of a pizza. There is lack of information about the survival of foodborne pathogens in lahmacun. Therefore, it was aimed to determine the survival and thermal inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes , and Salmonella Typhimurium in lahmacun. For this purpose, the lahmacun mixture was inoculated with foodborne pathogens and their numbers were determined during 24 h of storage at 4 ± 1 °C. Moreover, the spiked lahmacuns were subjected to different cooking temperatures and times (180°C for 10 and 12.5 min, 200°C for 6 and 4 min, 220°C for 4.5 and 3 min, 240°C for 4 and 2 min and 300°C for 3 and 1.5 min). The numbers of E. coli O157:H7 and S . Typhimurium in the lahmacun mixture decreased by 2.03 and 1.82 log10 cfu/g, respectively, over a period of 2 h (P' 0.05), while L. monocytogenes remained constant throughout the refrigerated storage (P' 0.05). Specifically, thermal treatment at 240 °C for 4 min resulted in log reductions of ' 4.5 log10 cfu/g for E. coli O157:H7 and S . Typhimurium, and ' 5.0 log10 cfu/g for L. monocytogenes , effectively reducing all tested pathogens to below the limit of detection (LOD ' 1.0 log10 cfu/g) (P' 0.05). At this temperature, the D -values ranged between 0.78 and 0.87 min. The results of the current research show that the lahmacun mixture provides a suitable environment for the survival of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, and therefore an optimized thermal treatment (at 240°C for 4 min) is crucial to ensure the microbiological safety of lahmacun. © 2026 Elsevier B.V.