Monitoring the microbial contamination of beef carcass tissue with a rapidchromogenic Limulus amoebocyte lysate endpoint assay

A chromogenic Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) endpoint assay was found to b e an accurate and rapid means of gauging levels of beef carcass microbial c ontamination within 10 min. The assay demonstrated a high correlation with the total mesophilic bacterial and coliform surface populations from inocul ated beef carcass surface tissues. This assay was tested on a set of actual beef carcass surface samples (n = 121) demonstrating the utility of the ch romogenic LAL test as a means of monitoring carcass microbial contamination in a near real-time fashion. Classifying the chromogenic LAL results into four contamination groups was found to be a sound means of utilizing the re sultant chromogenic LAL data for detecting carcasses with high levels of mi crobial contamination. For beef carcass testing, this assay can be used wit h no instrumentation other than the required 37 degrees C incubator and, as an option, a microplate reader.