Fate of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Species in Ground Beef Jerky.

Home-style drying procedures used for jerky made from whole meat strips may be insufficient to eliminate bacterial pathogens from jerky made from ground meat due to the possible distribution of pathogens throughout the product. The fate of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella species during preparation of ground beef jerky was determined. Ground beef was inoculated with these pathogens to a level of approximately 10 CFU/g prior to drying. A drying method shown to reduce the population of these microorganisms by 5 log CFU/g on jerky made with beef loin strips in a home-style dehydrator maintained at 60°C (140°F) was used with unheated samples and samples heated to 71.1°C (160°F) prior to drying, with and without cure mix. Populations of each pathogen type were determined after 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h of drying. In unheated samples without cure mix, there was only a 2.5 to 4 log reduction in the pathogens after 8 h of drying. When cure mix was added, the populations were reduced by at least 4 logs. Population reductions in heated samples without cure were approximately 3.8 log CFU/g for Salmonella and Listeria . Addition of the cure mix resulted in a greater reduction in Salmonella populations in the heated samples.