Microbial Escalation in Meat and Meat Products and Its Consequences

Abstract

Microorganisms are present everywhere, they play serviceable and detrimental role in various ways; deteriorate the basic needs of human life, escalation of their population in foods hamper the shelf-life of food and cause illness in humans. Among all foods, meat and meat products are staple food which are used worldwide. Meat and meat products are well known for their high nutritional values as they contain good amount of proteins which comprise of essential amino acids with high biological value. Meat is also rich in vitamin B complex and several important minerals like iron, magnesium and zinc. Being an excellent medium; meat and meat products favour the growth of a variety of microbial flora such as bacteria yeast and molds, few of them are pathogens. Under aerobic condition bacterial population grow and spoil the meat. Meat spoilage is commonly caused by the bacteria like Pseudomonas spp., Brochothrix thermosphacta, members of Enterobacteriaceae family, and Lactic acid bacteria etc., which alter the component of meat and meat products continuously, thus leading to adverse changes in sensory characteristics such as appearance, odour, texture and flavour as well as acceptable qualities. This chapter summarizes cause of spoilage of meat and meat products in order to develop optimum preservation techniques to keep up the freshness of meat and meat products. The chapter also gives insights about how microbes deteriorate the nutritional, sensory and textural qualities of meat and hamper the shelf life.