PRODUCT SAFETY AND COLOR CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUND BEEF PROCESSED FROM BEEF TRIMMINGS TREATED WITH PEROXYACETIC ACID ALONE OR FOLLOWED BY NOVEL ORGANIC ACIDS

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of antimicrobial interventions using peroxyacetic acetic acid (PAA) followed by novel organic acids on beef trimmings prior to grinding with conventional spray (CS) or electrostatic spray (ES) on ground beef microbial populations and color. Beef trimmings (80/20; 25kg) were inoculated with E. coli O157:H7, non- O157:H7 shiga toxin producing (STEC) E. coli (EC) and Salmonella spp. (SA) at 105 CFU/g. Inoculated trimmings (1.5 kg /treatment/replicate, 2 replicates) were treated with CS application of 0.02% PAA alone or followed by CS or ES application of 3% octanoic acid (PO), 3% pyruvic acid (PP), 3% malic acid (PM), saturated solution of fumaric acid (PF) or deionized water (W). Findings from this study suggest that PA as a single or multiple chemical hurdle approach with malic, pyruvic, octanoic and fumaric acid on beef trimmings may be effective in reducing E. coli O157:H7 as well as non-STEC serotypes and Salmonella in ground beef up to day 2 of simulated retail display. Results of this study showed that instrumental color properties of ground beef treated with peroxyacetic acid followed by organic acids had little or no difference (P > 0.05) compared to the untreated un-inoculated control ground beef samples. The results also indicate that ES application of some organic acids may have similar or greater efficiency in controlling ground beef microbial populations compared to the CS application of the same acid providing a more economical and waste manageable decontamination approach.