Residual antimicrobial effect of week organic acids on spoilage psychrotrophs at pig carcasses

Abstract

The aim of this researchwas to assess the residual antimicrobial effect of 3% lactic and acetic acid solutions regarding the load and configuration of psychrotrophs at porcine carcasses. During October 2016 and December 2016, 18 pork meat samples were collected from a comercial slaughterhouse in Transylvania. Collected samples were sprayed with 3% acetic acid and lactic acid solutions by spraying on the surface of meat samples. Each sample was divided into three sub-samples, from which two were treated with 3% organic acids solutions and one was the control sample. Experimental design were carried out over a 14- day period with microbial analyses at day 0, 1, 5, 9, 14. After spraying with organic acid solutions, the samples were kept at 2-4°C for 24 hours, and the following microbiological determinations were carried out: total load of psychrotrophic germs and isolation of microorganisms from the genera Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Yersinia and Enterobacteriaceae family. The most sensitive psychrophic bacteria regarding the decontamination effect of lactic and acetic acid were Aeromonas spp. and Yersinia spp., both species being completely inhibited after 24 hours since application. For all microbiological criteria analyzed, lactic and acetic acid shown an obvious residual antimicrobial effect during the shelf life of pork carcasses, when compared with control samples (p<0.05).