## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Salmonella Behavior in DCH during Storage after HPP  
The results of the challenge test showed that _Salmonella_ was not able to grow in any of the conditions assessed (Figure 2). The results agreed with those obtained through the application of the gamma concept, accounting for the individual effects of intrinsic (\(a_{w}\), pH, and lactic acid) and extrinsic (storage temperature) factors and their interaction on _Salmonella_ behavior, where no growth (\(\Gamma=0\)) was predicted to occur in DCH with a \(a_{w}<0.98\) (Table 1). Growth of _Salmonella_ was predicted at \(a_{w}=0.98\) but the \(\Gamma\) value was very close to zero (\(\Gamma=0.0002\); trials 29-32; Table 1). The main contributing growth-inhibition factor was the storage temperature (\(\gamma_{T}=0.005\), Table S2) since the storage temperature applied (\(\Gamma\)\({}^{\circ}\)C) was close to the minimum growth temperature of _Salmonella_ (Table S1). Results of challenge test showed that under the non-growing conditions, the viability of _Salmonella_was compromised in all the trials, resulting in a progressive log reduction (inactivation) of the pathogen load along the refrigerated storage (Figure 2, Table 1). The results of the PCA analysis showed that 99.73% of the variability could be represented in a two-dimensional space (Figure 3). The same length of the arrows represented in the correlation circle shows that all the sampling times contributed highly to a similar extent to explaining the variability in the _Salmonella_ log change data during storage (Figure 3a). In dimension 1, the horizontal axis explained 92.58% of the variability of the _Salmonella_ log change data and all the arrows pointed in the same direction, indicating a high correlation among sampling times. The confidence ellipses grouped trials with pressure < 600 MPa on the right and trials with pressure > 600 MPa on the left of the PCA graph (Figure 3d), suggesting an important impact of pressure level on _Salmonella_ inactivation along the storage of DCH, which could be related to the high lethality of > 600 MPa treatments. Figure 2: _Salmonella_ survival and inactivation during storage at 7 \({}^{\circ}\)C of pressurized dry-cured ham (DCH) with an \(a_{w}\) of **(a)** 0.870–0.915, **(b)** 0.919–0.920, **(c)** 0.940, **(d)** 0.950, **(e)** 0.960, and **(f)** 0.980. Symbols correspond to log change values and lines to the fit of the Weibull model (Equation (2)) to the data. Empty symbols correspond to replicates where the pathogen was not detected. Figure 3: Results of the principal component analysis (PCA) performed on the log change values of _Salmonella_ (**a–d**) and \(L\). _nanocytogenes_ (**e–h**) observed during the storage of pressurized dry-cyard ham (DCI) \(\pi\)-\(\zeta\). (**a**) show the correlation circles with the relationship between all the sampling times (days) on the log change data of _Salmonella_ and \(L\). _nanocytogenes_. In (**b–d–d-h**), the points represent the scores for the first two dimensions of PCA corresponding to each replicate of the 32 trials performed and the ellipses correspond to confidence ellipses at a confidence level of 0.95 around the categoric variables \(a_{c}\) (**b,f**), % of fat content (**c**,g**), and pressure level in MPa (**d,h**). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**OCR**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**OCR**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Coupling other**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Coupling other**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Coupling other**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Doupling principle**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Doupling principle**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Doupling principle**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Doupling principle**} \\ \cline{2-11} \cline{3-11} \cline{3-11} \cline{3-11} \cline{3-11} \cline{3-1  
Specifically, the pressurization of DCH at \(\geq\) 600 MPa resulted in a lethality of _Salmonella_ to levels below the detection limit in DCH with an \(a_{w}\) > 0.92 from immediately after HPP to the end of the storage (trials 18-19, 22-23, 26-28, 31-32; Table 1).