CONTAMINATION OF BEEF CARCASSES BY PSYCHROTROPHIC PSEUDOMONAS AND ENTEROBACTERIACEAE AT DIFFERENT STAGES ALONG THE PROCESSING LINE

The extent of the contamination of beef carcasses with psychrotrophic Pseudomonas spp. and Enterobacteriaceae during slaughter, chilling and cutting was estimated by introducing a new analytical procedure; the contamination index. Comparisons were made between the initial viable counts and the contamination index. The contamination index was calculated as the sum of the bacterial counts obtained during aerobic cold storage of excised meat samples. The presence and composition of spoilage bacteria in the slaughter environment and on the carcasses was also determined at one plant. Rapid chilling was identified as a critical processing step by the contamination index. In addition to this, the dehiding and the chilling in cold storage rooms were implicated as critical operations, with respect to aerosol contamination and surface cross-contamination. Comparison of the composition of spoilage bacteria in the slaughter environment and the bacteria proliferating on the carcass surface samples taken at the corresponding steps showed similar distributions of the identified Pseudomonas spp. In five surveys at two plants, the contamination of beef carcasses along the processing line was estimated. Statistically significant variations between different processing steps were more pronounced for the contamination index than for the conventional counts. It was concluded that the contamination index could be used for identifying critical processing steps, with respect to the extent of contamination of carcasses by psychrotrophic spoilage bacteria.