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Changes in microbiological populations on beef carcass surfaces exposed to air- or spray-chilling and characterization of hot box practices.

Author(s) : SIMPSON C. A., RANSOM J. R., SCANGA J. A., et al.

Type of article: Article

Summary

This study first evaluated changes in aerobic plate counts (APC), total coliform counts (TCC), Escherichia coli Biotope I count (ECC) and prevalence of E. coli O125:H7 on samples from beef carcasses subjected to spray-chilling or air-chilling. Secondly, it compared APC, TCC and ECC recovered from the upper region (round and flank) vs the lower region (brisket) of carcasses before and after chilling (about 48 hours). Thirdly, it characterized carcass hot box practices by comparing carcass handling and chilling procedures at different plants: carcasses at plants A and B received both treatments (spray chilling and air chilling), whereas carcasses at plant C received only the spray-chilling treatment. Overall, cold carcass APC, TCC and ECC were similar for upper carcass sites (3.5 log CFU/100 cm2) than for lower ones (4.2 log CFU/100 cm2); hot carcass TCC and ECC did not show this site difference. Of the hot carcass samples in plants A and B, 0.4 and 6.3% tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, respectively; no carcass samples tested positive after chilling. At plant C, 1.5% of prechilled sampled were positive for E. coli O157:H7, compared with 4.9% of the samples collected from carcasses after chilling. The average time required for carcass surface to reach about 4°C during chilling was 11.0, 9.33 and 21.7 hours at plants A, B and C, respectively, regardless of the chilling treatment.

Details

  • Original title: Changes in microbiological populations on beef carcass surfaces exposed to air- or spray-chilling and characterization of hot box practices.
  • Record ID : 2006-3018
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Food Prot. Trends - vol. 26 - n. 4
  • Publication date: 2006/04

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