Acetic acid as an intervention strategy to decontaminate beef carcasses in mexican commercial slaughterhouse

Laura   Reyes CARRANZA; Maria Salud   Rubio LOZANO; Ruben Danilo   Méndez MEDINA; Maria del Carmen   Wacher RODARTE; Jose Fernando   Núñez ESPINOSA; Bertha Lucila   Velázquez CAMACHO; Renata Ernlund   Freitas MACEDO

Acetic acid as an intervention strategy to decontaminate beef carcasses in mexican commercial slaughterhouse

Autores

Laura Reyes CARRANZA

Maria Salud Rubio LOZANO

Ruben Danilo Méndez MEDINA

Maria del Carmen Wacher RODARTE

Jose Fernando Núñez ESPINOSA

Bertha Lucila Velázquez CAMACHO

Renata Ernlund Freitas MACEDO

Editor

Sociedade Brasileira de Ciência e Tecnologia de Alimentos

Descripción

Beef can be contaminated during the slaughter process, thus other methods, besides the traditional water washing, must be adopted to preserve meat safety. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of 2% acetic acid interventions on the reduction of indicator bacteria on beef carcasses at a commercial slaughterhouse in Mexico. Reduction was measured by the count of mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TPC), total coliform (TC), and fecal coliform (FC) (log CFU/ cm2). Among the different interventions tested, treatments combining acetic acid solution sprayed following carcass water washing had greater microbial reduction level. Acetic acid solution sprayed at low pressure and longer time (10-30 psi/ 60 s) reached higher TPC, TC, and FC reductions than that obtained under high pressure/ shorter time (1,700 psi/ 15 s; P<0.05). Exposure time significantly affected microbial reduction on carcasses. Acetic acid solution sprayed after carcass washing can be successfully used to control sources of indicator bacteria on beef carcasses under commercial conditions.