Sanitizing effect of salts on experimentally inoculated organisms on pork carcasses

Pork forequarters procured from freshly slaughtered animals were decontaminated with hot water and inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Yersinia enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris. The forequarters were individually spray washed with 5% potassium sorbate and a combination of 5% sodium chloride and 2.5% each of sodium acetate, sodium citrate, sodium lactate and potassium sorbate solutions. The total viable count (TVC) of the treated meat samples was reduced by 0.96 and 1.31 log units by spraying with salt and salt combination respectively with marginal changes in colour and odour scores. Inoculated organisms were found to be highly sensitive to salt combination treatment as compared to potassium sorbate alone. Shelf-life of salt and salt combination treated samples was increased to 8 and 11 days as against 4 days in untreated samples. Carcass washing with salt and salt combination was found to be suitable for extension of shelf-life and improvement in the sensory and microbiological quality of meat.