ARS | Publication request: VALIDATION OF A COMMERCIAL PROCESS FOR BEEF JERKY TO INACTIVATE ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7, SALMONELLA, AND LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 15, 2006
Publication Date: July 30, 2006
Citation: Luchansky, J.B., Call, J.E. 2006. Validation of a commercial process for beef jerky to inactivate escherichia coli o157:h7, salmonella, and listeria monocytogenes. [Abstract]. Society for Industrial Microbiology. P.27.

Technical Abstract: Evaporative cooling that takes place at the surface of beef jerky during drying may result in insufficient lethality of pathogens during processing. We validated the lethality of a time and temperature regimen for commercial processing of beef jerky. A total of 8 log10 CFU of multi-strain cocktails of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and L. monocytogenes were separately applied to the surface of beef strips and treated as follows: not marinated and inoculated; marinated in a vacuum tumbler and then inoculated; inoculated then marinated by hand. A total of three beef strips for each treatment were separately inoculated with one of the three pathogens and placed on the top, middle, and bottom levels of a loading rack. The strips/on the rack were loaded into a smokehouse and dried for either 2.5 or 3.5 hours at 180F with constant smoke. Regardless of how the strips were treated or inoculated or where the strips were placed on the loading rack, drying for 2.5 or 3.5 hours at 180F with constant smoke resulted in a decrease of at least 6 log10 CFU of each of the three pathogens per strip.