Influence on week organic acids on pathogens on swine carcasses

Abstract

The aim of this research was to assess the efficiency of organic acids regarding the main pathogens as Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, Escherichia and Yersinia on pork meat. The fresh meat samples were collected from a slaughterhouse located in Cluj County. The samples were sterilized using UV radiation for 30 minutes and afterword’s contaminated with reference strains of above mentioned pathogens. The samples were subjected to decontamination operation by using solutions of organic acids (acetic, lactic and citric acid) in concentration of 1%, 2% and 3%. After decontamination were isolated and detected microorganisms. Statistic analyses of the results revealed that the investigated pathogens have a different sensitivity to the action of acid solutions, their sensitivity in ascending order being: Escherichia, Listeria, Salmonella, Yersinia, Campylobacter, so the strains of Campylobacter are the most sensitive to the action of the decontaminating agents and germs of Escherichia are the least sensitive. Among the organic acids, the most efficient appears to be lactic acid, followed by acetic acid and less efficient citric acid. The greatest reduction of germs was determined by the concentration of 3%.