CHANGES IN THE MICROFLORA ON COMMERCIAL BEEF TRIMMINGS DURING THEIR COLLECTION, DISTRIBUTION AND PREPARATION FOR RETAIL SALE AS GROUND-BEEF

A commercial process for ground meat production, from the collection o f meat plant trimmings to the retailing of consumer packs of ground be ef, was examined. The selected process complied with current concepts of Good Manufacturing Practice. During storage for up to 18 days befor e grinding, most trimming developed a flora of lactobacilli, of up to 10(7) CFU/g. Numbers of coliforms and of Escherichia coli on stored tr immings increased little and not at all, respectively. Increased total counts, and numbers of both coliforms and E. coli in displayed produc t indicated loss of control of the temperature of the displayed packag ed product. It appears that the need to store a product, taking into a ccount the unpredictable fluctuations in supply and demand, will inevi tably result in much ground beef carrying large numbers of spoilage ba cteria. Furthermore, currently accepted Good Practice in the retail ha ndling of ground beef does not adequately control either spoilage or t he growth of pathogenic bacteria.