THE BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF BRITISH BEEF 1 - CARCASSES SAMPLED PRIOR TO CHILLING

During a survey of 11 beef abattoirs in England 2200 swab samples were taken from carcasses just before chilling. Geometric mean aerobic pla te counts at 30 degrees C on each of four carcass sites ranged from lo g(10) 2.45 to 4.29 cfu cm(2) with the brisket and flank samples tendin g to be more highly contaminated than those from the fore-rib and groi n. Presumptive coliforms were isolated from 24% of the samples and the proportion of positive samples among the abattoirs varied between 1.5 % and 43%. Analysis of variance confirmed that the bacteriological sta tus of beef carcasses may be influenced by a number of interacting fac tors, including abattoir, visit, and sampling site. However, the resul ts showed that working methods alone were not critical factors in the production of beef of superior bacteriological quality. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved