Processing interventions for enhanced microbiological safety of beef carcasses and beef products: A review

Abstract

Chilled beef is inevitably contaminated with microorganisms, starting from the very beginning of the slaughter line. A lot of studies have aimed to improve meat safety and extend the shelf life of chilled beef, of which some have focused on improving the decontamination effects using traditional decontamination interventions, and others have investigated newer technologies and methods, that offer greater energy efficiency, lower environmental impacts, and better assurances for the decontamination of beef carcasses and cuts. To inform industry, there is an urgent need to review these interventions, analyze the merits and demerits of each technology, and provide insight into ‘best practice’ to preserve microbial safety and beef quality. In this review, the strategies and procedures used to inhibit the growth of microorganisms on beef, from slaughter to storage, have been critiqued. Critical aspects, where there is a lack of data, have been highlighted to help guide future research. It is also acknowledge that different intervention programs for microbiological safety have different applications, dependent on the initial microbial load, the type of infrastructures, and different stages of beef processing.

Keywords:

• Bacterial decontamination
• beef safety
• non-thermal processing technologies
• natural antimicrobial
• bacteriophage

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the earmarked funds for China Agriculture Research System-beef (CARS-37), a special intergovernmental project for international cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation (2019YFE0103800), and Shandong Province Agricultural Innovation Team from China (SDAIT-09-09, SDAIT-08-10).