Abstract
BackgroundMicrobiological standards within pork slaughter processing plants in the European Union are currently governed by Commission Regulation (EC) 2073/2005, which describes detailed performance criteria at specific stages of the procedure (following carcass dressing and before chilling) for total viable counts (TVC), Enterobacteriaceae (EB) and Salmonella spp. In this study, 95 carcasses from an Irish pork slaughter plant were sampled by swabbing 100 cm2 of surface at three sites (belly, ham, jowl) to examine the effects of eight processing stages (stunning, bleeding, scalding, singeing, polishing, evisceration, final inspection and chilling) on contamination levels.ResultsTVC ranged from approximately 1.7–6.3 log cfu cm2 during sampling. There were significant reductions in TVC for all sites after scalding and singeing (p < 0.05), whilst there was a significant increase in counts after polishing and evisceration (p < 0.05) compared with preceding stages. EB counts indicated hygienic weak points in the examined slaughter plant leading to faecal (cross)-contamination, with elevated counts after stunning, bleeding and evisceration (p < 0.05), compared with final counts after chilling.ConclusionsAlthough the bacterial numbers reported in this study may reflect specific plant practices and temporal influences, results show that contamination can be introduced at various steps in the process and highlight the importance of monitoring locations other than those required by legislation within the process. Monitoring can be used to establish baseline levels for high-risk stages specific to each plant and to assess the effectiveness of additional interventions.
Highlights
Microbiological standards within pork slaughter processing plants in the European Union are currently governed by Commission Regulation (EC) 2073/2005, which describes detailed performance criteria at specific stages of the procedure for total viable counts (TVC), Enterobacteriaceae (EB) and Salmonella spp
The regulation designates specific process hygiene criteria for total viable counts (TVC) and Enterobacteriaceae for the post-evisceration and pre-chilling stages, which provide useful data for the validation and verification of Hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) procedures and other hygiene control measures employed in the pork industry [2,3,4,5]
There were significant reductions in TVC for all sampling sites after scalding and singeing (p < 0.05) while there was a significant increase in counts after polishing and evisceration (p < 0.05)
Summary
Microbiological standards within pork slaughter processing plants in the European Union are currently governed by Commission Regulation (EC) 2073/2005, which describes detailed performance criteria at specific stages of the procedure (following carcass dressing and before chilling) for total viable counts (TVC), Enterobacteriaceae (EB) and Salmonella spp. 95 carcasses from an Irish pork slaughter plant were sampled by swabbing 100 cm of surface at three sites (belly, ham, jowl) to examine the effects of eight processing stages (stunning, bleeding, scalding, singeing, polishing, evisceration, final inspection and chilling) on contamination levels. Enterobacteriaceae are a useful measure of hygienic performance, indicating probable faecal contamination with mean log counts of 3.0 cm stipulated in the legislation for satisfactory, acceptable, and unacceptable categories respectively
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