Control of carcass contamination levels at line end : utility of lactic acid

To improve the control of hazards from Salmonella and other microbial contamination, measures additional to good hygiene practices (GHPs) and HACCP must be considered. These measures must reduce carcase contamination without adversely affecting the value or the acceptability of the products. The literature describes two types of process for obtaining reduced bacterial contamination of carcases: heat treatment and organic acids. This study deals with the decontaminating effect of lactic acid. Three concentrations of lactic acid and two temperatures were tested on carcases by spraying before sweating. The efficacy of the treatments was assessed by bacteriological sampling before treatment and then 24 h and 48 h after treatment, accompanied by an evaluation of the commercial value of the carcases. The reduction of the contamination remained below 80%, irrespective of the flora, temperature, concentration, area or time of sampling. These results show a treatment efficacy below the expected values (90 to 90.9% according to the literature).In the industrial conditions tested the control of carcase contamination by lactic acid treatment is thus of limited utility for the industry.