Reduction of E-coli, Salmonella typhimurium, coliforms, aerobic bacteria, and improvement of ground beef color using trisodium phosphate or cetylpyridinium chloride before grinding

The impact of 10% trisodium phosphate (TSP) or 0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) applied to beef trimmings either aerobically or under vacuum before grinding on Salmonella typhimurium (ST), Escherichia coli (EC), coliform (CO), aerobic plate count (A-PC), color and sensory attributes of ground beef through display was studied. For this, beef trimmings were inoculated with ST and EC then treated with either TSP or CPC in vacuum or aerobic conditions. Trimmings were ground, packaged, displayed under simulated retail conditions and sampled on days 0, 1, 2, 3 and 7 for microbial, instrumental color, and sensory color and odor characteristics. Aerobic and vacuum antimicrobial application methods were equally effective (P > 0.05) for reducing microorganisms in ground beef. Trisodium phosphate and CPC reduced (P < 0.05) all bacterial types monitored. In addition, TSP and CPC improved (P > 0.05) ground beef redness (a*), oxymyoglobin stability (630 nm/580 nm) and sensory overall color throughout display without adversely affecting odor characteristics. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.