Bacteriological Quality of Ingredients Used in Ground Beef Manufacture

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Abstract
The bacteriological quality of ingredients for the manufacture of ground beef was evaluated, and the extent each ingredient contributed to the bacteriological quality of the final product was determined. Ingredients and products sampled included line trimmings (from the fabrication of beef primal cuts), cow beef, flank meat, juices from line trimmings and from cow beef, frozen flaked meat, coarse grind of line trimmings, coarse grind of cow beef, and the final product. Two batches of ground beef were sampled on each of 4 days at a centralized meat distribution center and were analyzed for total aerobic bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium perfringens.. Mean log1 0 bacterial counts per gram of the final product were 4.60 for total aerobic bacteria, 4.86 for psychrotrophic bacteria, 1.66 for coliforms, 1.10 for E. coli, .55 and S. aureus and −.51 for C. perfringens. The bacteriological quality of the cow beef significantly affected that of the final product in terms of total aerobic bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, coliforms, E. coli, and C. perfringens. Coliform counts of the coarse grind of line trimmings were highly correlated with those of the final product (r = .92, P<.01). Because of the mixing-blending process involved in manufacturing ground beef, the bacterial counts of the final product were intermediate to those of the ingredients. Copyright © 1977. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1977 by American Society of Animal Science

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