The SIQUALTECA project: steam decontamination of carcasses in a commercial pig facility

The microbiological examination of carcasses was conducted in a commercial pig slaughter facilty with a maximum slaughter capacity of 200 animals per hour. ln particular, 108 half-carcasses were examined at the end of the slaughter line. The log mean numbers of total mesophilic aerobes was 5.89 log10CFU/cm2. Estimated log mean numbers of coliforms and E. coli were 2.86 and 2.31 log10CFU/cm2 rrespectively. Values obtained for mesophilic count and E. coli on carcasses were higher than those indicated in the Decision 2001/471/CE. These results should lead to undertake concrete actions to review the controls of the procedures, to discover the causes and to avoid the repetition of such resuts. Samonella spp. was isolated from 26,97% of slaughtered pigs, whereas 8.6% of samples analysed for L. monocytogenes were found positive. Results obtained from microbial counts together with the high Salmonella spp. and L .monocytogenes prevalence suggest that general hygiene standards alone are not suffcient to ensure food safety and reduce the risk of foodborne illness. To evaluate the effectiveness of steam pasteurization in such an environment, a pilot-plant process which exposes the carcasses to steam before the evisceration step was developed. The curent study verified that the scaled-up commercial pasteuization system is very efrective in reducing the levels of natural mixed flora on surfaces of commercially slaughtered pig carcasses. Furthermore, if the evisceration is carried out properly, steam treatment can be placed before the evisceration step to reduce the negative effect of heat on meat appearance.