Kl. Kotula et R. Thelappurate, MICROBIOLOGICAL AND SENSORY ATTRIBUTES OF RETAIL CUTS OF BEEF TREATEDWITH ACETIC AND LACTIC-ACID SOLUTIONS, Journal of food protection, 57(8), 1994, pp. 665-670
This research characterized the effect of 0.6 and 1.2% acetic and lact
ic acids applied for 20 and 120 s at a temperature of 1 to 2 degrees C
on total colony forming units (CFU) and Escherichia coli counts, and
sensory qualities including shear value, expressible moisture, color a
nd sensory panel of retail cuts of beef rib steaks. Microbial inhibiti
on was directly proportional to the concentration and times of treatme
nt with a 1.2% acid treatment for 120 s being the most effective treat
ment for reducing microbial counts, for both acids. Although there wer
e significant reductions (p <0.05) in bacterial populations, these red
uctions which had a maximum of 2.0 log, were of questionable practical
significance. The inhibitory effect of the acids decreased with stora
ge time, up to 9 days. Treatment with both the acids resulted in paler
meat (p <0.05) than the non-treated control. There were no significan
t differences (p >0.05) in shear values or expressible moisture due to
acid treatment. Sensory panels reported only small differences betwee
n the samples. These results indicate that an aqueous acetic or lactic
acid treatment of retail beef reduced total CFU and E. coli numbers i
mmediately after treatment, but the magnitude was less than 1 log. How
ever, a residual influence was observed so that after 3 and 9 days bot
h acid treatments inhibited total CFU and E. coli growth by up to 2 lo
gs compared with the non-treated control samples.