Combined effect of organic acids and supercritical carbon dioxide treatments against nonpathogenic Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium and E-coli O157:H7 in fresh pork

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of organic acids and supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) treatments as well as their combined effect for the reduction of nonpathogenic Escherichia coli and three pathogenic bacteria in fresh pork. Methods and Results: The different treatment conditions were as follows: (i) treatment with acetic (1%, 2% or 3%) or lactic acid (1%, 2% or 3%) only, (ii) treatment with SC-CO2 at 12 MPa and 35 degrees C for 30 min only and (iii) treatment with 3% acetic or lactic acid followed by treatment with SC-CO2. Within the same organic acid concentration, the lactic and acetic acid treatments had similar reductions. For the combined treatment of lactic acid and SC-CO2, micro-organism levels were maximally reduced, ranging from 2 center dot 10 to 2 center dot 60 log CFU cm<SU-2</SU (E. coli, 2 center dot 58 log CFU cm<SU-2</SU; Listeria monocytogenes, 2 center dot 60 log CFU cm<SU-2</SU; Salmonella typhimurium, 2 center dot 33 log CFU cm<SU-2</SU; E. coli O157:H7, 2 center dot 10 log CFU cm<SU-2</SU). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the combined treatments of SC-CO2 and organic acids were more effective at destroying foodborne pathogens than the treatments of SC-CO2 or organic acids alone. Significance and Impact of the Study: The combination treatment of SC-CO2 and organic acids may be useful in the meat industry to help increase microbial safety.