PROCESS VALIDATION AND CONTROL TO ADDRESS FOODBORNE PATHOGENS AND CONTAMINATION ASSOCIATED WITH MEAT AND POULTRY PRODUCTS.

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0218595
• Project Start Date: Jun 8, 2009
• Project End Date: Jun 7, 2014
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001

Performing Department
Animal Science

Non Technical Summary
Identify potential sources and validate effective control measures for pathogens of concern in meat and poultry products through evaluation of interventions for beef carcass surfaces and pork variety meats. Hot water continues to be an effective antimicrobial intervention, for beef carcasses, primals and trim. Issues arise in defining how hot is hot and in narrowing down the most effective water and surface temperatures. For the chilling of pork offal, there is little if any specific guidance or published best practices, and no regulatory performance standards for the chilling of pork offal. While proper chilling of animal carcasses and offal as well as maintaining proper refrigeration temperatures of meat products is important to limit the growth of both pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, antimicrobial treatments have gained acceptance for use as carcass treatments. A comparison of current practices with a commonly used antimicrobial such as lactic acid is of great interest to the pork industry. Develop and validate cleaning and sanitation procedures for meat plant processing equipment to reduce cross-contamination through development of cleaning procedures for reducing cross-contact of allergens in meat processing equipment. Allergens continue to be a challenge to the food industry from both a public health as well as from a regulatory perspective. Each processor must insure that their cleaning procedures are adequate for the particular allergen and equipment being used and having access to a quick and reliable method along with validated and reliable procedures will help with employee training as well as assist them as they perform any needed in-plant validation to address the specific challenges they face in their own processes. Evaluate and validate microbiological test methods and systems for use on food products including rapid methods for Salmonella serotyping and AOAC validation. Processors of meat and poultry products are responsible for the food safety of their incoming raw materials and additional emphasis placed on pathogen reduction programs, such as those for Salmonella, that the processor be able to trace contaminating sources to their origins. Traditional serotyping methods are time-consuming, involve the use of several reagents with limited shelf-life, and require a high level of expertise to be properly implemented in current food safety programs. Validation of a new commercial system based on genetic profiling would allow for routine laboratory testing of Salmonella serotypes at the industry level, which would greatly enhance the ability of processors to meet reduction standards. Validation of new test methods and comparison with standard reference methods, often considered the ?gold? standard, is necessary to confirm the sensitivity, repeatability and discriminatory power of the new method.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

50%

Developmental

40%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
712	3320	1100	50%
712	3260	1100	20%
712	3520	1100	30%

Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins;

Subject Of Investigation
3320 - Meat, beef cattle; 3260 - Poultry meat; 3520 - Meat, swine;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology;

Keywords

antimicrobial interventions

pork variety meats

allergens

rapid methods

Goals / Objectives
Identify potential sources and validate effective control measures for pathogens of concern in meat and poultry products through evaluation of interventions for beef carcass surfaces and pork variety meats. Develop and validate cleaning and sanitation procedures for meat plant processing equipment to reduce cross-contamination through development of cleaning procedures for reducing cross-contact of allergens in meat processing equipment. Evaluate and validate microbiological test methods and systems for use on food products including rapid methods for Salmonella serotyping and AOAC validation.

Project Methods
Identify potential sources and validate effective control measures for pathogens of concern in meat and poultry products through evaluation of interventions for beef carcass surfaces and pork variety meats. This will be accomplished by evaluating the potential of hot water applied over varying exposure times and temperatures to reduce the levels of pathogens and indicator organisms on beef carcass surfaces and through evaluation of the effect of varying exposure times and temperatures of hot water on meat surface type. Rifampicin-resistant strains of pathogens will be incorporated into a fecal slurry and used to inoculate the meat surfaces. Meat samples will be exposed to different temperatures of hot water and different dwell times and analyzed for pathogen reduction. To evaluate the effect of lactic acid and current industry practices for chilling and freezing on the survival of pathogens on pork variety meats, variety meats will be collected from pork carcasses at slaughter. Upon receipt at the laboratory, samples will be inoculated with pathogens and sample portions will then be subjected to lactic acid rinse and or different chilling treatments. Develop and validate cleaning and sanitation procedures for meat plant processing equipment to reduce cross-contamination through development of cleaning procedures for reducing cross-contact of allergens in meat processing equipment. Processing equipment of varying complexity will be evaluated before and after exposure to allergen-containing pork products and before and after cleaning to determine the presence and reduction in allergens when exposed to each cleaning process. Validation of testing will include a visual inspection of equipment after cleaning and qualitative and quantitative testing using allergen test kits. Evaluate and validate microbiological test methods and systems for use on food products including rapid methods for Salmonella serotyping and AOAC validation. The performance of a new Salmonella serotyping system will be evaluated in identifying strains of Salmonella isolates collected from pork and poultry sources. This rapid method will be compared to the current traditional method for Salmonella serotyping. The goals will be accomplished through a collaborative effort between Texas A&M University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The project will be conducted using cultures of Salmonella obtained from commercial pork and poultry settings, isolated in previous studies and previously characterized and reported and from fresh samples will be obtained from commercial pork and poultry processing facilities. AOAC validation includes test portions of each food type be delivered to the laboratory prior to initiation of the analyses. One test portion will analyzed by a rapid method method and the other by the appropriate reference methods.

Progress 06/08/09 to 06/07/14

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Principal Investigator left Texas A&M University in June 2010. No significant research information is reported. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
No results are available.

Publications

• Edwards, H.D., M.D. Hardin, R.K. Miller, N.A. Krueger, R.C. Anderson, and D.J. Nisbet. 2010. Characterization of physical factors affecting ruminal lipolytic activity in vitro. 2010 ADSA-PSA-AMPA-CSAS-ASAS Joint Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, July 11-15.
• King, A.M., M.D. Hardin, R.K. Miller, A. Castillo, and D.B. Griffin. 2010. Effects of lactic acid and commercial chilling processes on the survival of Salmonella, Campylobacter coli and Yersinia enterocolitica in pork variety meats. 2010 Institute of Food Technologists' Annual Meeting and Food Expo, Chicago, IL, July 17-21.

Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: One project has been completed to determine the potential of hot water applied over varying exposure times and temperatures to reduce the levels of Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157H7 and coliforms and Escherichia coli on beef carcass surfaces and to evaluate the effect of varying exposure times and temperatures of hot water on meat surface type (fat and lean). A project designed to validate sanitation procedures used to clean equipment to prevent cross contact with allergens during the production of allergen containing pork products using the current technology, screening and quantitative test kits has also been completed. A project studying the effects of lactic acid and commercial chilling processes on the survival of Salmonella, Campylobacter coli and Yersinia spp. in pork variety meats has begun. PARTICIPANTS: In the hot water project, one faculty member, one research associate and one Masters student led the project. Seven additional Masters students, 3 Doctoral students and 2 student workers were trained and worked on the treatment days during the project. Two additional Doctoral students assisted and two additional faculty members assisted with the statistical analysis and preparation of the final report. For the allergen project, one Masters student, one faculty member and one research associate were trained on the method for analysis of allergens. One faculty member and one Masters student led the project. Two student workers and two additional Masters students assisted on treatment days. Two additional faculty members assisted in statistical analysis and in preparation of the final report. TARGET AUDIENCES: Beef and pork producers, processors, researchers and government. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
There were no differences in the log reductions of S. Typhimurium and E. coli O157:H7 on the lean surfaces on the inside round for all three temperature treatments. Each of the dwell times evaluated across temperature resulted in at least a 1 log reduction of both S. Typhimurium and E. coli O157:H7 for lean surfaces of inside rounds. The only time and temperature treatment for the fat surfaces of the outside round that did not result in at least a 1 log reduction for S. Typhimurium was the 66C for 5 s treatment. While there was some initial discoloration of lean and fat surfaces immediately after treatment, for all treatments the 24 h post treatment color was acceptable. It is important that antimicrobial interventions do not create quality issues, such as discoloration, for the products. This results in additional costs to the processor in trimming and in lost yields. While there was some initial discoloration of lean and fat surfaces immediately after treatment, for all treatments the 24 h post treatment color was acceptable. In addressing sanitation of equipment and allergens, results of this research showed that both water washing alone and water with soap and scrubbing are very effective in removing allergens from pork processing equipment of varying complexity. There was more consistent removal of allergens when soap and scrubbing were included in the sanitation procedures. The findings in comparing test kits agree with the recommendations from the rest of the industry that the quantitative test can be of value during the initial implementation and validation of the risk of cross-contact during processing and of cleaning procedures to reduce allergens as part of an allergen control program. Following validation, the qualitative test kit will then be beneficial for routine monitoring of the process. The procedures developed during the project will provide guidelines for processors of pork products for cleaning and validating their allergen sanitation process. Based on the data, the cross contact of employees, and associated gloves, sleeves, coats and aprons, with allergens during production and during cleaning emphasizes the need to ensure that employees who work with allergen-containing products and employees who clean equipment after allergen runs should change into clean PPE before handing non-allergen-containing product and or equipment. The results will also help with employee training as well as assist them as they perform any needed in-plant validation to address the specific challenges they face in their own processes.

Publications

• No publications reported this period