Sterilized, lean and adipose beef carcass tissues were inoculated with Brochothrix thermosphacta, left untreated (U), or treated with 100 mu g/ml nisin (N), calcium alginate (A), or 100 mu g/ml nisin immobilized in a calcium alginate gel (AN). Treated tissues were aseptically processed into ground beef and populations of B. thermosphacta and nisin activity were determined during refrigerated storage (4 degrees C) at 0, 7, and 14 days. At day 0, bacterial populations of U- and A-treated ground beef were 3.24 and 3.17 log(10) CFU/g respectively. Ground beef treated with N exhibited populations of 2.80 log(10) CFU/g while AN significantly suppressed the organism to undetectable levels (<1.30 log(10) CFU/g) at day 0. In contrast to high nisin titers from AN-treated ground beef at day 0, nisin titers were undetectable in N-treated ground beef. By day 7, B. thermosphacta had grown to 7.18, 7.04, and 6.92 log(10) CFU/g in U-, A-, or N-treated ground beef, respectively, while AN-treated ground beef exhibited significantly different (P less than or equal to 0.05) populations of 6.56 log(10) CFU/g. By day 7, nisin titers from AN-treated ground beef were considerably diminished. At day 14 of the study, all treatments exhibited bacterial populations >7 log(10) CFU/g and nisin titers were virtually undetectable in any of the ground beef samples. While the growth of B. thermosphacta could not be effectively suppressed for 14 days, the application of nisin in alginate gels to meat surfaces does afford some immediate protection against undesirable bacteria when these surfaces are processed into ground beef. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.
