| dc.description.abstract | Ground beef is typically produced in a continuous type of production practice. This means that most large-scale ground beef facilities only have a full break down of the grinding equipment at the end of the production day or a partial break down of equipment when mechanical or minor issues occur during production (Gill and McGinnis, 1993; Gill et al., 2003). This presents a situation where large amounts of ground products can be contaminated and unfit for human consumption. The basis of this research is to introduce a novel antimicrobial ice application in order to reduce Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 with a simple process step. In addition to the antimicrobial ice, an additional hurdle in the form of antimicrobial sprays on beef trim were also tested. The antimicrobial ice treatments tested were: peracetic acid (PAA, 350 mg/L; PeroxyChem, PA, USA) and combination PAA with 2% FreshFX® (PAAF; PeroxyChem, PA, USA), 2% Paradigm® (PAAP; PeroxyChem, PA, USA) and 2% lactic acid (PAAL; Brico Co. IN, USA). The spray treatments were: no treatment (NT), de-ionized water spray (DI), 3% Sodium Acid Sulfate (NaHSO4; Jones-Hamilton Co., OH, USA), 5% Lactic Acid (LA; Brico Co. IN, USA), 0.2 % Blitz peracetic acid (Blitz; PeroxyChem, PA, USA), NaHSO4 followed by Blitz (NaHSO4 + Blitz), and LA followed by Blitz (LA + Blitz) The tests were primarily focused on antimicrobial reduction. There was also experiments conducted to determine storage color effects of the antimicrobial spray treatments. The experiments resulted in reduction of over 3 log pathogen transfer from the meat grinder. | |
