Contamination of Pork Carcasses during Slaughter, Fabrication, and Chilled Storage

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Abstract
In an attempt to determine points of greatest pathogenic contamination of pork, the prevalence of five pathogens was determined on pork carcasses at specific points during slaughter, fabrication, and refrigerated storage. Pork carcass and loin surfaces were swabbed at three hog slaughtering plants. Carcasses were swabbed after singeing, after the final wash of the slaughter process, and after 24 h of chilled storage. Boneless loins were swabbed after trimming and deboning, but before packaging. Also, vacuum-packaged loins were sampled after 36 days of storage at 2°C. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes were the most prevalent. S. aureus isolates showed a significant linear increase (P = 0.0399) from slaughter to fabrication processes, with the highest numbers detected after 24 h of refrigerated storage. Trimming fat from surfaces of pork loins reduced the number of initial S. aureus counts, but there was no further reduction after 36 days of refrigerated storage. Salmonella ...

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