Evaluation of the microbiological status of raw pork meat in Korea: modification of the microbial guideline levels for meat

This study aimed to evaluate the suitability of total aerobic plate count (APC) guidelines for raw pork (< 1 x 10(7) CFU/g) distributed in Korea. The APC values for raw pork collected from meat packing centers and meat shops in three provinces (Seoul/Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Chungcheong) were reported to be <= 1.5 x 10(6) CFU/g. To evaluate practical APC guidelines for pork and meat quality, APC levels and quality traits were determined for pork under cold storage. On day 12, APC for pork was 4.3 x 10(6) CFU/g, which was below the guideline level, while overall acceptability scores were < 3.0, indicating that the pork was rated as not acceptable by sensory panels. Therefore, to satisfy both the microbiological safety of pork and organoleptic quality for consumer palatability, we suggest that the current APC guideline levels for pork should be lowered to 1 x 10(6) CFU/g.