Interventions to control Salmonella contamination during poultry, cattle and pig slaughter

Abstract

The fundamental principle of controlling microbial contamination during slaughter is based on sanitary and hygienic processes. Both choosing abattoir technologies and conducting individual operations should be approached with the primary goal of minimizing microbial load on the final product. Nevertheless, even when best hygienic abattoir practices are applied, complete prevention of all microbial contamination of carcasses is unachievable under commercial conditions. Therefore, in some situations it may be considered necessary to further reduce the microbial loads on carcasses through application of additional control interventions, i.e. decontamination treatments. Treatments applied on poultry carcasses or parts include water, steam and chemical solutions (e.g., lactic or acetic acid, chlorine-based compounds, cetylpyridinium chloride, and trisodium phosphate) and result in overall microbial reductions of 0.6–3.8 log units; antimicrobial activity of some chemicals (e.g., chlorine compounds) is reduced in the presence of organic material. Decontamination treatments of hides (pre-skinning) and/or cattle carcasses reduce Salmonella by <0.7–5.1 log units. Salmonella prevalence reductions achievable by decontamination of porcine carcasses seem to be at least two-fold. Overall Salmonella reductions on final carcasses and meat can be significantly improved when multiple decontamination treatments are applied sequentially during slaughter and dressing operations. It is important to note that decontamination interventions should be validated and considered as part of a hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP)-based food safety system which is subject to verification and auditing, and they should never be used as a substitute for good sanitation and proper hygiene practices.