Ground beef has long been associated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination. The production of ground beef lends itself to increased adulteration by pathogenic microorganisms because the trim used is sourced from numerous carcasses increasing the potential for cross contamination. Ground beef is produced in large quantities throughout long periods of operation, so if the meat grinder were to get contaminated during the first part of production, the adulterated grinder could continue to incorporate foodborne pathogens into the product until the grinder is taken apart, cleaned, and sanitized. These practices can lead to massive recalls because of the large lot size. By implementing a multi-hurdle approach, the potential contamination of foodborne pathogens can be reduced. This study was designed to further optimize and validate our ice-based antimicrobial intervention using a benchtop meat grinder. The impacts of the removal of residual meat from the grinder head and determining the optimal amount of antimicrobial ice and solution were investigated. Furthermore, the effects of incorporating a multi-hurdle approach by spraying trim with novel antimicrobials prior to grinding to achieve increased microbial reductions to improve ground beef safety were also researched. The optimization of the process by removing residual meat from the grinder head yielded a recovery of 2.94 log CFU/g when implemented with peroxyacetic acid (PAA) ice when compared to the control non-removal which yielded a recovery of 4.21 log CFU/g. It was compared to a control removal, DI non-removal, DI removal, and PAA non-removal. The optimal ice and solution amount was determined to achieve the maximum reduction without freezing the grinder head. When antimicrobial sprays, PAA and PAS, were added to the optimized process, pathogen cross contamination of ground beef was decreased by 1.64 and 1.40 log CFU respectively when compared to the control. This novel antimicrobial ice-based rapid meat grinder sanitation method could provide the meat industry with a time efficient and cost effective antimicrobial hurdle that can be utilized throughout the production shift to improve food safety.
Charley Elizabeth Green (Tue,) studied this question.