Improving safety and quality of Egyptian pastrami through alteration of its microbial community

The present research was carried out to study the effect of adding autoclaved non-meat ingredients on the microbial quality and aflatoxin contents in pastrami final product, produced from fresh, chilled or frozen meat cuts, during its manufacturing steps. The experiment was carried out on three groups of pastrami. The first group was aimed to study the effect of adding autoclaved non-meat additives on aerobic plate counts and E. coli counts of produced pastrami. The second group was directed to study the effect of each manufacturing steps on artificially inoculated E. coli O157:H7 onto beef cut used for pastrami fabrication. The third group was designed to study the effect of using high quality spices (subjected to HACCP during its fabrication) on the residual contents of aflatoxins in the final pastrami product. The results indicated that using of autoclaved non-meat ingredients significantly reduced the microbial load in pastrami final product. In addition, manufacturing steps of pastrami produced complete inhibition of artificially inoculated E. coli O157:H7 in the final product. Furthermore, the use of sterilized high quality spices resulted in reduction of aflatoxin contents in pastrami bellow the permissible limit in comparison with the use of low quality spices purchased from ordinary shops.