CONTROL OF SALMONELLA ON BEEF TISSUE SURFACES IN A MODEL SYSTEM BY PREEVISCERATION AND POST-EVISCERATION WASHING AND SANITIZING, WITH AND WITHOUT SPRAY CHILLING

Beef tissue was inoculated with a nalidixic acid resistant strain of Salmonella california and processed under conditions simulating pre- and post-evisceration carcass washing and sanitizing. These treatments, using distilled water to wash and 2% acetic acid to sanitize, reduced the population of salmonellae by as much as 2-log10 cycles when compared to samples which were washed only in distilled water. Increasing the acid temperature to 55-degrees-C reduced the bacterial populations further. Spray chilling, when used in series with the pre- and post-evisceration treatments, apparently resulted in recovery of some injured Salmonella.