MICROBIAL, INSTRUMENTAL COLOR AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUND BEEF PROCESSED FROM BEEF TRIMMINGS TREATED WITH POTASSIUM LACTATE, SODIUM METASILICATE, PEROXYACETIC ACID OR ACIDIFIED SODIUM CHLORITE AS SINGLE ANTIMICROBIAL INTERVENTIONS

Beef trimmings, inoculated with Escherichia coli (EC) and Salmonella typhimurium (ST), were treated with 3% potassium lactate (K-L), 4% sodium metasilicate (NMS), 0.1% acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) or 0.02% peroxyacetic acid (PAA) prior to grinding. The ground beef packages were sampled at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 7 days of simulated retail display. All treatments reduced (P < 0.05) EC, coliforms and aerobic plate counts up to and some in excess of 1 log and ST count >= 1.5 logs. Sensory panelists found ground beef from all treatments to generally be similar (P > 0.05) to the control in odor and similar (P > 0.05) in color for the K-L and NMS treatments during initial display. Instrumental color results indicated that K-L, NMS and PAA were similar (P > 0.05) in redness (a*) to the control. These findings indicated that use of tested antimicrobial agents can reduce microbial numbers with little impact on sensory odor and color characteristics.