Abstract
Manufacturing dry-cured meat products without a thermal lethality step is a growing trend for charcuterie companies in the United States. The United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service requires that hazards for ready-to-eat meat products be addressed with a scientifically valid Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system. Because little validation literature exists for these products, an experiment was designed to investigate the safety of beef bresaola. The objective of this study was to determine the reduction of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes during curing and drying of bresaola.Prior to curing, whole beef semitendinosus muscle was inoculated with a mixed culture containing 3 strains each of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and L. monocytogenes, allowed to air dry (30 min at 23°C), sprayed with a 2.5% Beefxide antimicrobial treatment (Birko Corp., Henderson, CO), and allowed to sit overnight in a walk-in cooler (2°C–4°C). Cure (NaNO3and NaNO2) and salt were applied to the beef surface 24 h after the antimicrobial treatment, and the beef was cured for 28 d (2°C–4°C). Following curing, a proprietary spice mixture was surface coated, and each piece was stuffed into beef casings (115–130 mm). The stuffed bresaola pieces were hung and allowed to dry for 35 d to a target water activity < 0.92 (13.63°C ± 2°C; relative humidity 68% ± 7%). Pathogen populations and water activity were analyzed on days 0, 1, and 2 and then weekly until day 65 of the study. Final reductions of 5.97, 5.98, and 5.44 log10 colony-forming units (CFU)/cm2 were achieved on day 65 for E. coli, Salmonella spp., and L. monocytogenes, respectively. During the entire curing and drying process, populations of each species never increased by more than 0.5 log10 CFU/cm2. The critical parameters used to cure and dry this product are sufficient to achieve the minimum 5 log10 CFU/cm2 reduction of each pathogen as required by the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service to validate process safety.
Highlights
Salting, curing, and drying have been utilized as meat preservation methods for thousands of years, and whole-muscle meat products like prosciutto and bresaola were among the first products to be developed by ancient societies throughout Europe (Zeuthen, 2007; Zhou et al, 2010; Ruhlman and Polcyn, 2012)
The mechanism by which nitrate and/or nitrite cause death of pathogens is not completely understood, it is known that once sodium nitrite (NaNO2) is added to a meat product, some of the NaNO2 is converted to nitrous acid, a chemical that negatively impacts bacterial cellular processes (Hospital et al, 2014; Majou and Christieans, 2018)
The objectives of this research were to validate a production process of raw, RTE beef bresaola according to USDA-FSIS regulations and to achieve a 5 log10 reduction in E. coli O157:H7 (Ec), Sal, and Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) by the end of processing
Summary
Salting, curing, and drying have been utilized as meat preservation methods for thousands of years, and whole-muscle meat products like prosciutto and bresaola were among the first products to be developed by ancient societies throughout Europe (Zeuthen, 2007; Zhou et al, 2010; Ruhlman and Polcyn, 2012). Bresaola and other whole-muscle charcuterie products rely primarily on the collective use of salt and drying in order to reduce water activity (aW) in the final product, which is detrimental to the survival and growth of any pathogens present (Sperber, 1983; Beales, 2004). These intrinsic and extrinsic stressors for pathogenic cells may be metabolic or structural. The mechanism by which nitrate and/or nitrite cause death of pathogens is not completely understood, it is known that once sodium nitrite (NaNO2) is added to a meat product, some of the NaNO2 is converted to nitrous acid, a chemical that negatively impacts bacterial cellular processes (Hospital et al, 2014; Majou and Christieans, 2018)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
