The Cattle Connection

Next month the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is expected to approve a new way to reduce salmonella contamination in beef.

According to preliminary results from a cooperative study by the meat industry and the federal government, three common acids found in food dramatically reduce salmonella levels on beef carcasses. When a water solution containing 1.5% of citric, acetic or lactic acid was lightly misted onto beef carcasses at two different stages of the processing line, it caused a 10-fold reduction in the salmonella bacteria. Compared to poultry, beef has relatively low amounts of salmonella bacteria, present on about 4% of the meat, according to United States Department of Agriculture estimates. The actual rate is unknown, but USDA’s FSIS expects to have more definitive figures upon release of its first comprehensive microbiological survey of beef this April.

“It is only a matter of weeks till the issue of organic acid rinses are decided upon,” said H. Russell Cross, FSIS administrator.

The study, funded by the National Livestock and Meat Board in Chicago, was conducted at slaughter plants in Kansas and Texas, according to project coordinator David Theno. Only plants with low levels of salmonella (about 1% of the carcasses tested), were selected to participate in the research.

According to Theno, the trial was able to further lower the presence of salmonella from about 1% to a mere “0.1 of 1%.”

USDA’s Cross said that it is important to reduce salmonella levels even though the actual presence of the bacteria on cattle is minimal.

“If something goes wrong with (storage) temperatures or in the distribution system,” he said, “the number (of bacteria) can grow dramatically.”