Effect of steam condensation, hot water or chlorinated hot water immersionon bacterial numbers and quality of lamb carcasses

Three different systems for decontaminating lamb carcasses immediately post -mortem were investigated; steam condensation, hot water immersion and chlo rinated hot water immersion. All treatments were applied 50 min post-mortem . All three treatments significantly reduced aerobic plate counts (APC) on the carcasses in comparison with untreated controls. Overall the chlorinate d hot water treatment reduced counts by 1.6 log(10) colony forming unit per centimetre square (cfu cm(-2)). There was no significant difference betwee n the steam and hot water treatments with both treatments reducing counts b y approximately 1 log(10) cfu cm(-2). No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in the subjective evaluation of lean appearance, colour appeara nce, odour, and overall acceptability between treated and untreated carcass es after 48 h of chilling and chilled storage. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.