ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the chewy chocolate chip granola bar manufacturing process on Salmonella survival originating from old‐fashioned (rolled) oats. The old‐fashioned oats were mist inoculated with a 5‐serovar Salmonella cocktail and dried back to their pre‐inoculated water activity levels. The inoculated oats containing Salmonella were toasted at 162.7°C (325°F) for 4, 8, and 12 min before mixing with unsalted butter, brown sugar, honey, rice crisps, salt, and vanilla extract to prepare a chewy chocolate chip granola bar. The microbial analysis demonstrated that chewy chocolate chip granola bars prepared from oats toasted for 4, 8, and 12 min resulted in 2.64 ± 0.41, 4.09 ± 0.25, and 6.04 ± 0.22 CFU/g reduction in Salmonella population, respectively. Water activity varied throughout the process, whereas pH showed a significant decrease at the end of the chewy chocolate chip granola bars manufacturing process. The chewy chocolate chip granola bar manufacturing process involving toasting oats at 162.7°C (325°F) for 12 min demonstrated the highest reduction in Salmonella population assuring the safety of the finished food product.
Ramesh et al. (Mon,) studied this question.