Effectiveness of a steam-vacuum sanitizer for reducing Escherichia coli 0157:H7 inoculated to beef carcass surface tissue

Authors

W. J. Dorsa, USDA-ARS
C. N. Cutter, USDA-ARS
G. R. Siragusa, USDA-ARS

Date of this Version

1996

Document Type

Article

Citation

Published in Letters in Applied Microbiology (1996) 23: 61 -63.

Abstract

A steam-vacuum sanitizer reduced aerobic plate counts associated with bovine faecal cantamination from 5·5 log₁₀ cfu cm^-2 to 3·0 ± 0·21 log₁₀ cfu cm^-2 on beef carcass short plates. The same beef carcass short plates inoculated with 7·6 ± 0·09 log₁₀ cfu cm^-2 Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in faeces, yielded an average residual level of E. coli 0157:H7 of 2·1 ± 0·21 log₁₀ cfu cm^-2 after steam-vacuum treatments. This study deomonstrates the effectiveness of a steam vacuum sanitizer for removing E. coli 0157:H7 from beef carcasses.