Validation studies on an online monitoring system for reducing faecal and microbial contamination on beef carcasses

The objective of this research was to establish the reduction in the incidence of carcass faecal contamination and microbial counts that could be achieved in a beef slaughter plant using a novel information technology based online monitoring system. On 18 separate visits over the course of 6 months, every carcass (approximately 500 per day) was examined at the final inspection stand for visible faecal contamination. Each incidence was attributed to dehiding or evisceration operations. On each visit, 10 carcasses were swabbed at the trimming stand, at the hock, rump, anus, brisket and flank to determine total viable counts (TVC), Escherichia coli counts (ECC), total enteric counts (TEC) and total coliform counts (TCC). Over the course of this study, faecal contamination rates for dehiding and evisceration were reduced from 54.2% to 28.2% and from 32.5% to 13.7%, respectively. TVC remained constant at approximately 3.0 log10 cfu cm−2 while ECC, TEC and TCC decreased by 0.56 log10 cfu cm−2, 0.83 log10 cfu cm−2 and 0.9 log10 cfu cm−2, respectively. Online monitoring is therefore an effective means of reducing the incidence of bovine carcass faecal and enteric counts.