Beef jerky gastroenteritis outbreaks

In New Mexico between 1966 and 1995, eight gastroenteritis outbreaks due to ingestion of contaminated meat jerky mere reported, with 250 illnesses. Pr imarily implicated was a locally produced jerky, carne seca, made by soakin g beef strips in a spicy marinade and then dehydrating them. The process us es no other preservation methods, such as salt curing or the addition of ch emical preservatives. Organisms isolated from samples included Staphylococc us aureus and several types of Salmonella (thompson, cerro, montevideo, ken tucky, typhimurium, and newport), The primary risk factor may be failure du ring processing to reach a temperature sufficient to kill these organisms ( 145 degrees F for three hours). New Mexico has established guidelines that address this issue, and regulatory agencies and jerky processors need to en sure that processing brings every piece of jerky to the appropriate interna l temperature.