Development of a carcass sanitizing spray system for small and very small slaughterhouses

Abstract

Small and very small slaughterhouses generally spray lactic acid for carcass decontamination utilizing a hand held sprayer. Even though this tool represents a very small investment, it may present important disadvantages such as uneven delivery of the spray over the carcass surface. If the decontamination treatment is not applied properly, the untreated areas of the carcass will still have high bacterial loads present and could be a source for recontamination of the areas that have been treated. A sanitizer spraying system (sanitizing halo system) was designed and assembled. The sanitizing halo system was tested at the Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center, Texas A&M University. Thirteen carcasses were split in halves. Thirteen halves were sampled and used as control after knife trimming and water wash; then they were sprayed with 2% L-Lactic at 55°C with the sanitizing halo system. The other 13 halves were sprayed by the RMSTC employees utilizing a hand held sprayer. Counts of aerobic and mesophilic bacteria obtained from carcasses sprayed with the sanitizing halo system and the hand held sprayer were both significantly lower than the control counts. In addition, coliforms counts were below the detectable limit for the sanitizing halo system and the hand held sprayer. After testing, the sanitizing halo system was installed at two small commercial slaughter plants processing beef and pork carcasses. At each slaughter plant, 24 carcass halves were treated with 2% L-Lactic at 55°C using the sanitizing halo system, and the other 24 halves were used as control. Mesophilic bacteria populations were reduced in beef and pork carcasses by 2.9 and 1.9 log cycles, respectively, after the lactic acid treatment. Also E. coli counts were significantly lower in the three regions sampled after application of the 2% L-Lactic acid with the sanitizing halo system. From the data collected during this study, we recommend the sanitizing halo system as a tool to reduce the bacterial loads on the surface of beef and pork carcasses. The use of this system should help small and very small slaughterhouses to improve food safety performance while providing cost-efficiency, simplicity, and convenience.