Table 3.

Effect of storage temperature on the log reductions (log (N ₀/N)) of B. subtilis HU58 spores in cookies.

	Freezer temperature (−18°C)	Refrigerator temperature (4°C)	Room temperature (25°C)
	Log reductions (logN 0/N )
Day 0	0.7 ± 0.7 Aa	0.7 ± 0.7 Aa	0.7 ± 0.7 Aa
1 month	0.5 ± 0.1 Aa	0.4 ± 0.2 Aa	0.5 ± 0.1 Aa
2 months	0.4 ± 0.4 Aa	0.4 ± 0.1 Aa	0.5 ± 0.2 Aa
4 months	0.4 ± 0.4 Aa	0.4 ± 0.2 Aa	0.5 ± 0.4 Aa
6 months	0.4 ± 0.4 Aa	0.4 ± 0.3 Aa	0.6 ± 0.0 Aa
8 months	0.4 ± 0.1 Ba	0.5 ± 0.1 ABa	0.6 ± 0.1 Aa
10 months	0.5 ± 0.1 Ba	0.6 ± 0.2 ABa	0.8 ± 0.1 Aa
12 months	0.6 ± 0.3 Ba	0.7 ± 0.2 ABa	0.8 ± 0.1 Aa

Note: N ₀ is the initial dough count before baking, and N is the final count after each experiment. Different capital letters (A) in the same row denote significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) in log reductions between the different holding temperatures. Different lowercase letters (a) in the same column denote significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) in log reductions between the same holding temperature over the storage period.