Hot‐Water Rinsing and Trimming/Washing of Beef Carcasses to Reduce Physical and Microbiological Contamination

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Abstract
A field study was conducted to compare trimming/washing procedures with hot‐water rinsing as interventions for beef carcass decontamination. Treatments included no trimming/no washing; knife‐trimming followed by spray‐washing (26°C, 276 kPa followed by 1000 kPa); and hot‐water rinsing (> 77°C, 138–152 kPa, 2.5 or 8 sec) following either knife‐trimming or no knife‐trimming of the contaminated site and spray‐washing. Samples were analyzed for counts of total aerobic bacteria, total coliforms and Escherichia coli, as well as for the presence of Salmonella spp. and E. coli O157:H7. Results indicated decontamination of beef carcasses could be achieved by knife‐trimming followed by spray‐washing or by spray‐washing followed by hot‐water rinsing.