Animals are natural reservoirs of food-borne pathogens including Salmonella spp. and E. coli O157:H7.  The muscle of a healthy animal is essentially sterile, but even under the most stringent conditions, it becomes contaminated during the slaughter process from the environment, hide or from direct contact with the intestinal tract contents.  This contamination ultimately can cause consumer illness if the product is not appropriately handled by the processor or the consumer. 

A limited number of studies have been conducted to determine the antimicrobial effects of interventions on beef trim.  In previous studies lactic acid and acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) have been effective in reducing pathogen loads on beef carcasses and, to a limited extent, on beef trim.  The FDA has recently approved the use of ASC as a food additive to reduce pathogens loads on both pre-chill and post-chill meat and poultry products.  However, the effectiveness on reduction of pathogens on beef trim has not been thoroughly reported. 

     Many currently published studies are conducted in very controlled laboratory conditions and do not mimic the actual processing environment.  Additionally other studies report that the pieces of beef trim are treated evenly on all sides with the intervention.  Again, it is unlikely that an on-line intervention process for beef trim will allow complete coverage of the pieces with the antimicrobial treatments.  If the pieces of trim are dipped then they will likely contain too much of the antimicrobial and will adversely effect the product quality and/or result in a “water added” product.  If they are sprayed, then only a portion of the surface will be covered.  Processors need validation in a setting that is similar to actual processing environments. 

This document explains how to effectively use ASC, lactic acid and acetic acid as interventions on beef trim.  Application methods, concentrations and the impact on sensory properties are explained.

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