Microbiological Decontamination of Food Animal Carcasses by Washing and Sanitizing Systems: A Review.

Microbial contamination of animal carcasses is a result of the necessary procedures required to process live animals into retail meat. The contamination can be minimized by good manufacturing processes, but the total elimination of foodborne pathogenic microorganisms is difficult, if not impossible. A variety of methods have been developed to reduce the levels of contaminating bacteria on carcasses, although most of the current methods focus on washing and sanitizing procedures.

Control of Salmonella on Beef Tissue Surfaces in a Model System by Pre- and Post-Evisceration Washing and Sanitizing, With and Without Spray Chilling.

Beef tissue was inoculated with a nalidixic acid resistant strain of Salmonella California and processed under conditions simulating pre- and post-evisceration carcass washing and sanitizing. These treatments, using distilled water to wash and 2% acetic acid to sanitize, reduced the population of salmonellae by as much as 2-log cycles when compared to samples which were washed only in distilled water. Increasing the acid temperature to 55°C reduced the bacterial populations further.

A Model System for Studying the Penetration of Microorganisms into Meat.

This study assessed the effect of line pressure used in spraying meat surfaces on removal of inoculated bacteria and on penetration of Blue Lake, an insoluble dye, into sprayed meat. Pressures used in this analysis were 690, 2070, 4140, and 6200 kPa. The highest pressure, 6200 kPa, removed significantly less aerobic bacteria than the other three lower pressures.

Evaluation of an Automated Beef Carcass Washing and Sanitizing System under Production Conditions .

Beef half carcasses were hand- or machine-washed and then machine-sanitized with 1.5% acetic acid. Sanitizer was applied at 14.