Comparison of Decontamination Efficacy of Antimicrobial Treatments for Beef Trimmings against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and 6 Non‐O157 Shiga Toxin‐Producing E. coli Serogroups

Abstract

The decontamination efficacy of 6 chemical treatments for beef trimmings were evaluated against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and 6 non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (nSTEC) serogroups. Rifampicin-resistant 4-strain mixtures of E. coli O157:H7 and nSTEC serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145 were separately inoculated (3 to 4 log CFU/cm(2)) onto trimmings (10 × 5 × 1 cm; approximately 100 g) fabricated from beef chuck rolls, and were immersed for 30 s in solutions of acidified sodium chlorite (0.1%, pH 2.5), peroxyacetic acid (0.02%, pH 3.8), sodium metasilicate (4%, pH 12.5), Bromitize(®) Plus (0.0225% active bromine, pH 6.6), or AFTEC 3000 (pH 1.2), or for 5 s in SYNTRx 3300 (pH 1.0). Each antimicrobial was tested independently together with an untreated control. Results showed that all tested decontamination treatments were similarly effective against the 6 nSTEC serogroups as they were against E. coli O157:H7. Irrespective of pathogen inoculum, treatment of beef trimmings with acidified sodium chlorite, peroxyacetic acid, or sodium metasilicate effectively (P < 0.05) reduced initial pathogen counts (3.4 to 3.9 log CFU/cm(2)) by 0.7 to 1.0, 0.6 to 1.0, and 1.3 to 1.5 log CFU/cm(2), respectively. Reductions of pathogen counts (3.1 to 3.2 log CFU/cm(2)) by Bromitize Plus, AFTEC 3000, and SYNTRx 3300 were 0.1 to 0.4 log CFU/cm(2), depending on treatment. Findings of this study should be useful to regulatory authorities and the meat industry as they consider nSTEC contamination in beef trimmings. Findings of this study should be useful to: (i) meat processors as they design and conduct studies to validate the efficacy of antimicrobial treatments to control pathogen contamination on fresh beef products; and (ii) regulatory agencies as they consider approaches for better control of the studied pathogens.