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ABSTRACT

Out of five average sized sheep/goat forequarters procured from freshly slaughtered ani-mals, four were decontaminated with hot water (90°C) spray for 2 minutes and one was kept as an untreated control. Decontaminated forequarter were inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a con-centration of about 103 bacteria/ml. The forequarters were individually spray washed with 5% potassium sorbate and a salt combination containing 5% sodium chloride and 2.5% each of sodium citrate, sodium acetate, sodium lactate and potassium sorbate. Total Viable Count (TVC) of the treated meat samples decreased by about 0.47 and 0.96 log units with marginal changes in colour and odour scores. Inoculated organisms were found to be highly sensitive to salt combination treatment as compared to 5% potassium sorbate treatment alone. Shelf-life of salt and salt combination treated samples increased up to 8 and 11 days, respectively, as against 3 days in untreated samples at refrigeration storage. The study revealed that the carcass washing by salt and salt combination was found to be suitable for extension of shelf-life and to increase the sensory and microbiological quality of meat.

Keywords: Decontamination, Meat, Refrigeration, Salts.